On the development of the great anterior veins in man and Mammalia : including an account of certain remnants of foetal structure found in the adult, a comparative view of those great veins in the different Mammalia, and an analysis of their occasional peculiarities in the human subject / by John Marshall ; communicated by Professor Sharpey.

  • Marshall, John, 1818-1891.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the development of the great anterior veins in man and Mammalia : including an account of certain remnants of foetal structure found in the adult, a comparative view of those great veins in the different Mammalia, and an analysis of their occasional peculiarities in the human subject / by John Marshall ; communicated by Professor Sharpey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    VI. On the Development of the Great Anterior Veins in Man and Mammalia; including an Account of certain remnants of Foetal Structure found in the Adult, a Comparative View of these Great Veins in the different Mammalia, and an Analysis of their occasional peculiarities in the Human Subject. By John Marshall, F.R.C.S., late Demonstrator of Anatomy in University College, Lon- don; Assistant. Surgeon to the University College Hospital. Communicated by Professor Sharpey, F.R.S. Received June 19,—Read June 21, 1849. The principal object of the present paper is to state the result of observations on the metamorphosis of certain of the great veins in Man and Mammalia, and on the relation between the primitive and final condition of these vessels, both when they pass through their changes in the usual order, and in cases of deviation from it. It is well known that in the mammalian embryo the great veins entering the heart from the upper or anterior part of the body are originally symmetrical on the two sides; and that in Man, the Quadrumana and most of the higher orders of quadru- peds, the venous trunk of the left side undergoes occlusion; whilst in other Mam- malia that vessel continues, and constitutes, in the adult state, a left vena cava an terior, which passes down in front of the left lung, and then along the back of the heart in the auriculo-ventricular groove to terminate in the right auricle. Certain points of analogy between these different conditions are suggested by a careful exa- mination of the great veins in adult hearts, more especially of what is usually regarded in the human subject as the dilated termination of the great coronary vein in the right auricle. This portion of the vessel (Plate I. fig. 1, s), which has muscular parietes, is, on account of its width, usually named the coronary sinus. Its length may be considered as defined by a valve (x) placed about an inch or more from its opening into the right auricle. This valve, which was known to Vieussens*, has been again recently pointed out by Dr. John Reid'|', and is described by him as generally existing and formed of one or two segments. In all the examinations which I have made I have found it present, and always consisting of two segments; a larger one placed on the side of the auriculo-ventricular furrow, and a smaller one situated on the free side of the vein, and therefore liable to be divided in slitting up * Traite de la Structure, &c. du Cceur. Toulouse, 1715, p. 56. f Cyc. Anat. and Phys., Art. Heart, p. 597.