XIII. A description of a very unusual formation of the human heart

Abstract

T he heart is an organ of so much importance in the animal oeconomy, and is so immediately concerned in the support of life, that any unusual deviation from its natural form and situation in the human body, has always been considered as a subject of some interest by the physiologist; such deviations have, therefore, not unfrequently been submitted to the consideration of this and other learned Societies. Many circumstances respecting the circulation of the blood, and respiration, wholly unknown to our ancestors, have lately been ascertained; but we are not as yet arrived at a perfect knowledge of these important actions. Difficulties yet remain; more information may still be acquired; and the reasoning upon these subjects will be less liable to fallacy, in proportion to the number of facts which have been observed, and the accuracy of the observations.