Volume 2

Practical anatomy : the student's dissecting manual / by F.G. Parsons and William Wright.

  • Parsons, Frederick Gymer, 1863-1943.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Practical anatomy : the student's dissecting manual / by F.G. Parsons and William Wright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    48/400 (page 36)
    studied while the heart and perdicardium are still in posi- tion, working first from the left side and afterwards from the right. Hook the pericardium and heart over to the right, and look behind them for the descending thoracic aorta [aorta thoracalis] beginning, where the arch of the aorta ends, at the lower level of the fourth thoracic vertebra. This great vessel will be seen to he well to the left of the bodies of the fifth and sixth thoracic vertebrae, but to approach the mid line as it descends. Among its branches look for the left aortic intercostals [aa. intercostales], nine in number, coming off the back of it, and notice how much the upper ones have to ascend to reach thdir proper spaces. Dissect one or two of these arteries for some little dis- tance by stripping away the parietal pleura, and observe the way in which they pass behind the sympathetic chain, The bronchial branches [aa. bronchiales] will probably be found just behind the divided bronchi, while oesophagecd twigs pass forwards to that tube. These, with some variable pericardiac [rami pericardiaci] and mediastincd arteries [vami mediastinales], are all the branches which need be looked for at present. The oesophagus will be easily found as a large muscular tube lying in front of the aorta and just behind the peri- cardium ; above it is to the right of the aorta, but, as it descends, the latter vessel passes more directly behind it, and quite low down the oesophagus is often a little to the left of the aorta. Be particularly careful to notice how the oesophagus passes just behind the left bronchus before reach- ing the back of the pericardium. In some cases of peri- carditis with effusion, the pressure of the distended sinus obliquus of the pericardium causes dysphagia or difficulty in swallowing, while malignant disease in the middle of the oesophagus is liable to invade the left bronchus (see Fig. 204). Define the oesophagus from both sides of the thorax, turn- ing the heart and pericardium from one side to the other, i