C 1S1 3 
VII. Account of the Dissection of a Human Foetus , in which the 
Circulation of the Blood was carried on without a Heart. By 
Mr. B. C. Brodie. Communicated by Everard Home, Esq. 
F. R. S. 
Read February 1 6, 180 g. 
An opportunity lately occurred to me of examining a human 
foetus, in which the heart was wanting, and the circulation of 
the blood was carried on by the action of the vessels only. 
There have been some other instances of this remarkable 
deviation from the natural structure ; but in that to which I 
allude the growth of the child had been natural, and it differed 
much less from the natural formation than in any of those, 
which are on record, and I have therefore been induced to 
draw up the following account of it. 
A woman was delivered of twins in the beginning of the 
seventh month of pregnancy. There was a placenta with two 
umbilical chords, which had their origin about, three inches 
distant from each other. The placenta was not preserved, 
but Mr. Adams, who attended the mother in her lying-in, ob- 
served nothing unusual in its appearance. Both foetuses were 
born dead. They were nearly of the same size. One of them 
in no respect differed from the ordinary formation ; the other 
had an unusual appearance, and Mr. Adams thought it de- 
serving of examination. Through Dr. Hooper it was put into 
nay hands for this purpose. 
MDCCCIX. 
Y 
