intercostals are in contact with the serous membrane lining' the thoraco- 

 abdominal cavity. The sternal ribs articulate with the vertebral by- 

 means of arthrodial surfaces, united by capsular fibres and a central in- 

 ter-articular ligament. On laying open the abdominal wall we disclose 

 the viscera. The stomach is continuous with the lower end of the 

 oesophagus, which exhibits at its lowest point a gradual dilatation, with 

 no distinct proventriculus : this organ is placed obliquely, so that the 

 cardiac orifice is on a plane inferior to the pyloric. The whole organ is 

 an elongated oval in shape, and is not constricted in the centre ; the thick- 

 ness of its walls varies considerably, — the cardiac extremity being thin 

 and membranous, the pyloric an inch and a half thick, and made up of al- 

 ternating laminae of muscle and tendon : its epithelial lining is thick and 

 soft, very loosely attached, except in the vicinity of the pyloric orifice, and 

 much corrugated, the rugae being small, and arranged lineally in the long 

 axis of the organ at the cardia, but larger and more irregularly convoluted 

 at the pyloric extremity. This membrane has a decidedly acid reaction 

 with litmas paper. The succenturiate gland is dumbbell-shaped, one 

 broad extremity being placed at the cardia, and the other towards the 

 pylorus ; it measures four inches at its widest part, two at its constriction, 

 and twelve in length ; its orifices are arranged quincuncially, twenty-five 

 to the square inch, and each communicates with a racemose gland. The 

 pyloric orifice is much smaller than the oesophageal, and is semicircular in 

 shape, its straight border being formed inferiorly by the tendinous wall of 

 the gizzard ; the curve is formed of alternate firm ridges and grooves, the 

 former six in number, the latter seven, and by this apparatus the pas- 

 sage of undigested materials is retarded; this orifice is situated anteriorly, 

 and between two radiating tendinous laminae. All the substances con- 

 tained in the stomach were of a dark green colour, as also was its epi- 

 thelial coat ; its contents were vegetable matters and stones in large 

 quantities — the latter were rounded and worn. 



In the outer coat of the stomach of the female, and in contact with 

 the gastric artery, a pin was found, enclosed in a cyst. The intestinal 

 canal seems to vary much in length. Hunter records finding it 70 feet, 

 while Perrault, in his eight, ' states that it varied from 50 to 42, 33, and 

 even to 29 feet ; in our female the intestine measured 42 feet, and in the 

 male 44 feet. The duodenum commences at the pylorus, is about three 

 feet long, and passes very nearly in the course described by Hunter, 

 first downwards, then turning and folding on itself, then passing from 

 left to right, then ascending till it crosses the spine above the ovaries in 

 the female, and is retained in its place by piercing through the root of 

 the mesentery ; at first, about three inches from its beginning, it receives 

 the hepatic duct, and three feet lower the pancreatic. Prom the situa- 

 tion where it escapes from traversing the root of the mesentery it is ac- 

 companied downwards on either side by a spiral- valved caecum, which 

 is enclosed in the same layer of peritoneum, and lies about an inch 

 distance from the gut about 2 J feet below, these caeca unite with the 

 intestine, and from thence the colon passes downward rather narrower 

 than the upper intestine ; its surface presents valvulae conniventes like 

 those in the small intestine of man, which are arranged alternately on 



