regret, but this was
impracticable; for the want of time on these occasions frequently
obliged us to content ourselves with investigating the state of the
most important parts. This must serve as our apology for not oftener
relating the appearance of all the principal organs; yet it should be
observed, that such methods have been employed to ascertain with
accuracy the most interesting morbid phoenomena, as would satisfy the
most scrupulous anatomist.

The tricuspid valves and the semilunar valves of the pulmonary artery
had lost their healthy transparency, but were not otherwise diseased.
In all the above cases these valves had been found without important
derangement of their structure; a circumstance not less remarkable,
than difficult to be satisfactorily explained. The basis of the mitral
valves was marked by a bony projection, which nearly surrounded the
orifice of the ventricle; the valves themselves were thickened, and
one of them was smaller than the other. The semilunar valves of the
aorta were lessened in size, and somewhat thickened. One of them was
ossified sufficiently to annihilate its valvular function; the others
were slightly. The aorta under the valves was semicartilaginous,
ossified in one small spot, roughened by fleshlike prominences in
others, entirely deprived of the smoothness of its internal coat, and
in size proportioned to the heart.

The parietes of the heart were thicker than those of a healthy heart,
but thin when compared with its whole volume; whence it follows, that
the cavities were enlarged. That of the left ventricle was
disproportionately larger than the others, but no difference of size
could be ascertained between the auricles. When a cavity of the heart
is situated in the course of the circulation immediately behind a
contracted orifice, it seems probable that the contraction may have an
important influence in originating the enlargement or aneurism of that
cavity; but, where there is no contraction of an orifice, what is the
obstruction which impedes the free discharge of blood from the heart,
and causes the first yielding of its parietes? Perhaps a violent
simultaneous action of many muscles, from great exertion, may, during
the systole of the heart, impede the passage of the blood through the
arteries, drive it back upon the valves of the aorta, and resist the
heart at the moment of its contraction. If the parietes of the heart
yield, in one part, it is easy to conceive a c