OF THE GREAT ANTERIOR VEINS. 
147 
cases, and it may be from half an inch to an inch in depth, according to the nature 
of the interval between the pulmonary artery and vein. Above the pulmonary artery, 
the vestigial fold blends with the pericardium, and its fibrous bundles may frequently 
be traced into those already described as passing beneath the pleura up to the left 
superior intercostal vein. Its lower end is lost on the side of the left auricle in 
the narrow opake and often interrupted streak {1), which courses around the root of 
the lower left pulmonary vein. This streak represents the part of the left Cuvierian 
canal which has undergone the greatest amount of obliteration, and it is sometimes 
almost entirely wanting. In the same situation scattered whitish bands are com- 
monly seen beneath the serous membrane of the back of the left auricle, closely con- 
nected with the muscular fibres and descending towards the oblique vein : amongst 
them there are some fine branches of nerves. They mark only the track of the pre- 
viously existing vein. In some instances a prominent ridge exists in their place upon 
the back of the auriele. 
The small oblique auricular vein (o), which has been shown to form part of the per- 
vious portion of the left canal of Cuvier, is remarkably constant ; and indeed has 
been recognized by some of the early anatomists as a branch of the great coronary 
vein*. This short vessel is readily distinguishable from its tributary branches by its 
direct course, a character not possessed by the cardiac veins generally. Moreover, it 
is as it were imbedded in the walls of the left auricle, so that it appears covered by 
muscular bundles, like the coronary sinus itself. Frequently it measures from half 
an inch to an inch in length, and sometimes is as large as a crow-quill, but more 
commonly it is smaller, and will admit only the head of a pin. I have once seen it 
an inch and a quarter in length, and as wide as a common goose-quill; but, however 
large it may be, its opening into the coronary sinus is never provided with a valve. 
Its upper end either tapers and ends in a fine branch ; or, as more frequently found, 
especially in young subjects, it does not alter much in width as it ascends, but ter- 
minates rather abruptly, and receives, close to its extremity, one or two tortuous 
lateral branches of nearly equal size. 
In some instances I have found a long slender vessel ascending from the upper 
part of this short vein, along the back of the auricle into the vestigial fold, and ulti- 
mately through the pericardium, just above the root of the left lung. It there joins 
* It is represented by Rutsch (Thesaur. iv. tab. 3. fig. 1), and also by Senac (op. cit. planche 2). 
Haller (Oper. Minora, t. i. lib. i. p. 11) speaks of one particular branch of the great coronary vein coming 
from the left auricle. Theile (Soemmerring’s Anatomy) has a similar statement. This small vein has also 
been occasionally indicated in drawings of the heart given for other purposes ; and it may be seen readily in 
most injected hearts preserved in anatomical museums. 
ViEussENS (Traite du Coeur, pp. 2, 55, planche 1. fig. 2, and planche 5. fig. 2) mentions and represents in 
two instances, as if ordinarily present, a large branch of the coronary vein in the situation of this oblique vessel, 
which he describes as returning the blood from the pericardial sac. Haller remarks (Op. Min., t. i. lib. i. 
p. 11, note) that he has never seen this vein of the pericardium, which is certainly represented by Vieussens, 
both longer and wdder, than, according to my experience, the oblique vein ever is in the human heart. 
