TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 
85 
of London, as to the animal or vital character of the bodies to which 
the appearance is owing. He next remarked some interesting 
coincidences in the cases he had examined: thus, in one instance, 
where the muscles were very generally affected, he found a large 
cyst in the liver which contained several hydatids. These were 
exhibited to the meeting. In all the other cases there were marks 
of scrofulous disease having existed, either recently or at some 
remote period: thus, in three cases the lungs w T ere a mass of tu¬ 
bercular matter, and in another there was caries of the lumbar 
vertebrae and scrofulous suppuration in the adjacent structures. 
The Professor further stated, that in all the cases he had examined, 
this appearance was almost confined to the voluntary muscles: he 
had never met with it in the heart or intestinal tunics, but had found 
it about the circumference only of the diaphragm, and in the other 
mixed muscles to a much less degree than in the voluntary: these 
bodies he stated to be more numerous on the cutaneous than on the 
deep surfaces of muscles, and to be deposited in the interfascicular 
cellular tissue, rather than in the fasciculi themselves. 
On the Bones which are found in the Hearts of certain Ruminant 
Animals . By Professor Harrison. 
The author first compared the circulating organs in fish, reptiles, 
birds, and mammalia. He next adverted to the opinions of Mor¬ 
gagni, Haller, Daubenton, Meckel, and Carus as to the singular 
osseous appendages which the hearts of some of the Ruminants pos¬ 
sess, as also of some other animals allied to them. He exhibited 
several specimens of these bones, some dried, some in their recent 
' state, and others in situ , in different animals. The heart of the ox 
presents them in greatest perfection; here there are always at least 
two, and sometimes several smaller osseous and cartilaginous grains: 
the two principal bones are, one very large, placed posteriorly in 
the septum auricularum; the other, smaller, is situated in front. The 
large one is of the figure of the human malar bone; its upper concave 
border forms the floor to the posterior aortic sinus; its inferior be¬ 
velled edge gives attachment to the large portion of the mitral valve; 
to the body of the bone the fleshy and tendinous fibres of the auricles 
are attached. The small or anterior bone is triangular; its concave 
base floors the anterior aortic sinus. These bones are always to be 
found in both sexes, and in the young as w~ell as in the old. Speci¬ 
mens were presented from animals only a few weeks old, in which 
osseous nuclei were distinct in the cartilaginous basis. The author 
next adverted to the peculiar fleshy character of the left ventricle in 
the ox, a transverse section exhibiting the appearance of a puncture 
or stab, rather than of a distinct chamber; this formed a curious 
contrast to the heart of the horse. From these and many other ob¬ 
servations, Mr. Harrison inferred that these bones are supports, not 
only to this mass of muscle, but also to the root of the aorta which 
is connected to them, and which is thus maintained in a permanently 
