From a woman, set. sixty-five, who died instantly. | vijj. of blood in the pericardium. The structure of the heart was not remarkable about the rupture, nor else- where. 1859.
Dr. Richard L. Hodgdon, of West Cambridge.
1704. A second specimen. From a man, set. fifty, who had been previously healthy, but had suffered for eight weeks before his death from pulmonary symptoms and occasional palpitation, after sleeping in a cold, damp room. There was also a cardiac murmur. Death at last sudden, and in an exceedingly severe paroxysm of dyspnoea.
The cavity of the pericardium contained iij. of fluid blood. The rupture was 1^ in. from the apex, anteriorly, nearly over the septum, five lines in length, looked like an incised wound, and was found to communicate with the cavity of the right ventricle ; a stream of dark blood issu- ing from it when the heart was raised. The organ itself weighed 17 oz. ; and all of the cavities were dilated, with disease of the aortal valves and of the aorta.
The patient had been in the hospital (271, 64) under the care of Dr. S. 1867. Dr. G. G. Shattuck.
1705. Extensive laceration of the interventricular septum. From a man who was crushed between two railroad cars, and died very soon afterward. The fourth, fifth, and sixth ribs upon the left side were fractured midway ; and the sternum, but without displacement. (Hospital, 109, ,24.)
1863. Dr. C. Ellis.
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1706. Interventricular opening, congenital or the result of rupture ; with an aneurism, at the origin of the aorta, that projected and finally burst into the right ventricle.
The patient was a robust and perfectly healthy young^ man, nineteen years of age. About five months before his sickness he arrived in New York harbor in a wai'-vessel ; and, to escape from it, jumped overboard, swam about one- eighth of a mile, and then walked to his home, a distance of about two hundred miles ; and all this he bore perfect^ well.
About Dec. 1st, 1860, when lifting a heavy stone, he was suddenly seized with a sharp and severe pain across- the
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