296 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [anNO 1793. 



about 10 months old. The muscles of the child were large and firm, and 

 covered by a considerable quantity of healthy fat ; indeed the appearance of the 

 body strongly implied that the child had, when living, possessed much vigour of 

 constitution. 



I shall first relate those varieties of the sanguiferous system which were found 

 on the thoracic side of the diaphragm, and afterwards describe those which were 

 discovered in the abdomen ; this will naturally lead to the account of the uncom-' 

 mon state of the liver. The situation of the heart was reversed ; the basis of 

 that organ was placed a little to the left of the sternum, while its apex extended 

 considerably to the right, and pointed against the space between the 6th and 7th 

 ribs. The cavities usually called the right auricle and ventricle were consequently 

 inclined to the left side of the body ; therefore, to avoid confusion in the descrip- 

 tion, I shall, after Mr. Winslow, term them anterior, while those cavities usually 

 called left, I shall term posterior. The inferior vena cava passed, as usual, 

 through a tendinous ring in the right ride of the centre of the diaphragm, it 

 afterwards pursued the course of the vena azygos, the place of which it supplied ; 

 after having united with the superior cava, the conjoined veins passed beneath 

 the basis of the heart, to expand into the anterior auricle. The veins returning 

 the blood from the liver united into one trunk, which passed through a tendi- 

 nous aperture in the left of the centre of the diaphragm, and terminated imme- 

 diately also in the anterior auricle. The distribution of blood to the lungs, and 

 the return of it from those bodies, were accomplished after the usual manner. 

 The aorta, after it had emerged from the posterior ventricle of the heart, ex- 

 tended its arch from the left to the right side, but afterwards pursued its ordinary 

 course along the bodies of the dorsal vertebrae. 



From the curvature of the aorta there first arose the common arterial trunk, 

 which in this subject divided into the left carotid and subclavian arteries ; while 

 the right carotid, and subclavian, proceeded from the aorta by distinct trunks. 

 The inferior aorta gave off the caeliac, which as usual divided into 3 branches ; 

 however, that artery which was distributed to the liver appeared larger than com- 

 mon ; it exceeded, by more than -i, the size of the splenic artery of this subject. 

 This was the only vessel which supplied the liver with blood, for the purpose 

 either of nutrition or secretion. The vena portarum was formed in the usual 

 manner, but terminated in the inferior cava, nearly on a line with the renal veins. 

 The umbilical vein of this subject ended in the hepatic vein. 



The liver was of the ordinary size, but had not the usual inclination 

 to the right side of the body ; it was situated in the middle of the upper part 

 of the abdomen, and nearly an equal portion of the gland extended into either 

 hypochondrium. The gall bladder lay collapsed in its usual situation ; it was of 

 a natural structure, but rather smaller than common ; it measured 1 and J- inch 



