586 PHILOSQPHIGAL TRANSACTIONS. [ANNOI76I. 



great and uninterrupted palpitation, and the feel of the pulse, that there was 

 something very extraordinarily disordered in the heart itself, or in some of the 

 large vessels near it. The regularity of the pulse inclined him to suppose an 

 aneurism rather than polypose affections. All this time however no outward 

 appearance strengthened this supposition. No remedies alleviated his complaints 

 in any degree, except bleeding, which afforded a relief; but very temporary, and 

 weakened him too much to be repeated more than once. All that it seemed to 

 do for him, was the procuring him rather more sleep the night after than he 

 usually had, and easing a little tickling cough which had remained with him 

 ever since the year 17^9 at times; and particularly since his rheumatism, but 

 which was never very troublesome. 



Soon after Mr. P. first saw him his legs became oedematous, and by the be- 

 ginning of April his thighs were much enlarged, and at length his belly in some 

 degree. At this time he began to cough more, from having taken cold, inad- 

 vertently as he thought, but he soon expectorated freely. By the middle of 

 April he was too weak to sit up, nor could he speak or stir without being ready 

 to expire for want of breath. On the night of the 20th of April, as he was 

 coughing, an haemoptoe suffocated him instantly. 



About 2 quarts of a thin coffee-coloured liquor were found in the cavity of the 

 abdomen. The omentum was very small, perhaps it would not weigh more than 

 2 oz. The stomach and intestines were greatly inflated. In all other respects, 

 the viscera of this cavity, as far as a hasty examination would permit them to 

 observe, were in a sound state. 



In the thorax they found the lungs very sound, but extremely turgid with 

 blood: they adhered very firmly to the pleura on both sides, and particularly on 

 the left, where the adhesion was almost total. The heart, as might be expected, 

 appeared to be the organ principally affected. The pericardium adhered almost 

 every where so close, as to form as it were the external coat of it. The heart 

 itself was of an enormous size, and of a very pale colour, and loose and flaccid 

 in its texture, to a very remarkable degree. Mr. P. could not find that either 

 of the auricles or ventricles bore an extraordinary proportion to the other. The 

 whole heart might be said to be entirely aneurismatical. The parietes were 

 every where thin, in proportion to the size of the whole. There was no par- 

 ticular enlargement of the aorta, as far as he traced it, which he did to some 

 distance; but its texture, as that of the heart, was very lax and flabby. He 

 could not find the least polypose concretions in any part whatever. When the 

 heart was cut short from the great vessels, emptied of the coagula, and washed 

 as clean as possible, it weighed upwards of 28 oz. avoirdupois. 



Observations. — ^The size of the human heart, in a natural state, is found to 

 differ greatly in different subjects. And it is usually supposed, that the capacity 



