410 EMBOLISM OF THE ILTAC ARTERIES. 
The heart was seemingly normal in volume, relatively 
heavy, and inordinately firm to the touch, imparting an im- 
pression of being a solid body. The walls of the ventricles 
were thick, and the cavities small ; they contained no blood. 
But the auriculo-ventricular and semilunar valves were per- 
fectly healthy, and the carnese columnee were especially well 
developed. A heart of this kind, by those who are incapable 
of conceiving of mere hypertrophy as a healthy condition, 
would be simply designated a strong one. But although the 
heart in question, divested of its vessels, weighed only six 
pounds and a quarter, it was a beautiful specimen of centric 
hypertrophy, occasioned — not as suggested at the post-mortem 
examination by hard work and good food ; conditions to which 
the animal had not been subjected for the last six years of 
her life — but by the persistent obstruction which existed in 
the diseased blood-vessels, to the equable flow of blood through 
the system. Here nature had, by the addition of homoge- 
neous tissue, increased the strength of the central organ of 
circulation in order that it might overcome the obstruction. 
The hypertrophy in this case may be viewed as a grand illus- 
tration of conservative means by which a force adequate to 
surmount the increased resistance to the circulation was 
secured. 
That part of the spinal cord, with its membranes, extend- 
ing from the ninth dorsal vertebra to the sacrum, showed 
not the faintest trace of disease. It was firm to the feel and 
evidently well nourished. 
Having given a strict outline of the diseased arteries as 
seen in situ , and of other morbid conditions as observed in 
the course of the examination, I shall now describe the 
changes which were found to have taken place within these 
vessels ; and also notice certain unnatural conditions of some 
of the blood-vessels of the extremities. 
The posterior aorta from its region to the point where the 
utero-ovarian arteries arise was apparently healthy ; but that 
portion of the vessel situated between these arteries and 
the internal iliacs were found to contain two firm, yellow, 
fibrinous clots, very slightly stained with the colouring matter 
of the blood. They were non-organized and also non-adhe- 
rent to the inner tunic of the vessel. These clots weighed 
together ten drachms. The smaller one was placed ante- 
riorly ; it only weighed three drachms and a scruple. The 
coats of the aorta were not diseased even at this point, but 
simply distended by the fibrinous clots. 
The left external iliac artery as far as the circumflex ilii, 
although occupied by a fibrinous cord resembling in physical 
