TOPOGRAPHY OF THE THORAX AND ABDOMEN 



MATERIAL AND METHODS 



The sections upon which this paper is based were made, 

 according to Jackson's method, from the body of a negro 

 man about thirty years of age, six feet in height and about 

 one hundred and ninety pounds in weight. The body was 

 well proportioned, the muscles were well developed, there 

 was no surplus fat and no external signs of abnormal or 

 pathological conditions. Just after a full meal the man died 

 from asphyxia while cleaning an old well. The body came 

 into the anatomical laboratory of the University of Missouri 

 a few hours after death and was at once injected, through 

 the femoral artery, with about six quarts of fifty per cent 

 formalin (twenty per cent formaldehyde). ^ Care was taken 

 to have the body straight (in the dorsal position) and the 

 limbs in their normal position. Within twelve hours after 

 being injected the entire body was perfectly rigid. A few 

 weeks later the trunk was cut into twenty-five cross-sections 

 with a long knife and saw. It was the intention to have 

 each cut pass through an intervertebral disc but this was 

 not accomplished in every case. The surfaces of the sec- 

 tions should have been horizontal and parallel to each other, 

 but those through the- upper part of thorax are lower and 

 thinner in front than behind. As each section was made 

 the loose pieces and parts liable to be displaced were stitched 

 in place with needle and thread. The body was so thor- 



1 A small quantity of a weak formalin solution had already been 

 injected into the peritoneal cavity by an undertaker. This causes the 

 abnormal dilatation of the peritoneal spaces seen between the organs 

 in the abdominal sections. 



