throughout its walls to the lining membrane and cotmnnce cameaSi 

 enlarge with the natural growth of the heart before birth, and during 

 childhood and youth, until the heart has attained its full size in the 

 adult ; Srdly, that when the walls of the auricles and ventricles are 

 affected with hypertrophy, the ganglia and nerves of the heart are 

 enlarged like those of the gravid uterus ; and 4thly, that the gan- 

 glia and nerves which supply the left auricle and ventricle in the 

 natural state, are more than double the size of the ganglia and 

 nerves distributed to the right side of the heart. 



The author observes that the ventricles and auricles of the human 

 heart and of those of the hearts of the larger quadrupeds, are covered 

 with two distinct membranes ; the exterior is the serous membrane, 

 connected by cellular tissue with another distinct tunic, which has 

 scarcely, if at all, been noticed by anatomists. This second mem- 

 brane is stated to have a dense fibrous structure, to be semitrans- 

 parent, and to resemble in a remarkable manner the aponeurotic ex- 

 pansions, or fasciae, covering muscles in other parts of the body ; 

 and, like them, it sends numerous fibres or processes between the 

 muscular fasciculi, blood-vessels, nerves, and adipose substance of 

 the heart. This membrane, the author thinks, may appropriately 

 be termed the cardiac fascia, and he states that, through this, after 

 the removal of the serous membrane, there are numerous ganglia 

 and plexuses of nerves visible to the naked eye. If these nerves be 

 traced backwards towards the base of the ventricles, they are seen 

 to terminate in a great ganglionic plexus, situated between the pul- 

 monary artery and aorta ; into which plexus branches of nerves 

 enter from the par vagum of each side, the recurrent and the sym- 

 pathetic nerves. From this great ganglionic plexus, which the 

 author considers to be the root of all the principal cardiac nerves, 

 branches invested with a soft neurilema proceed to the auricles 

 and ventricles, and their septa. Large flat branches of nerves pass 

 from this ganglionic mass to the coronary arteries, the trunks of 

 which they completely surround like a sheath, and all the ramifica- 

 tions of which they accompany, not only over the surface of the 

 heart, but into the muscular substance, and they are distributed 

 with these arteries throughout its walls to the lining membrane. 

 The author also states that there are besides numerous branches of 

 nerves from the great ganglionic plexuses at the base of the heart 

 and surrounding the coronary arteries, with ganglia distributed over 

 the surfaces of both the ventricles, which do not accompany the 

 blood-vessels, but run obliquely across them, and also across the 

 fibres of the muscular coat. These superficial cardiac nerves are 

 described as being remarkably soft, flat, of a grey colour, and some- 

 what transparent, as had been formerly stated by Scarpa. Towards 

 the left side and apex of the left ventricle, these nerves lie in grooves 

 or depressions of the muscular coat, and spread out into ganglionic 

 enlargements, from which innumerable filaments are sent off late- 

 rally to the muscular coat. There are ganglia of considerable size 

 on these superficial nerves where they are crossing the arteries, 

 which send branches to the coats of the vessels, and some of which 

 branches pass down with the vessels into the substance of the heart. 



