Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 edition. Excerpt: ... a considerable sagittal diameter only behind the manubrium, the remaining cavity being filled by loose areolar tissue; the upper portion, however, contains the thymus gland, or rather fatty tissue surrounding the remains of the thymus, the internal mammary vessels, and the sternal and anterior mediastinal lymphatic glands. A detailed account of these vessels and nerves will be found in the sections upon Angiology and Neurology, as well as in the text-books and atlases of topographic anatomy. The posterior mediastinum is bounded posteriorly by the vertebral column, anteriorly by the heart or pericardium, and laterally by the posterior mediastinal laminae. It is much more Msdtastinal pleura Thoracic vertebra (Esopliagus Pleural cavity, ' Arch oj aorta Pulmonary pleura Superior vena cava / lc m Mediastiiuil cavity Tracheal bijurcation Fig. 456.--Diagram of the arrangement of the pleura above the heart as seen in transverse section. capacious than the anterior mediastinum and contains the following structures (Figs. 457, 458, and 460): the oesophagus with the vagus nerves forming the cesophageal plexus; the thoracic descending aorta; to the right of these the vena azygos, which in the upper portion of the mediastinum passes about the root of the right lung to empty into the superior vena cava; to the left of and behind the aorta, the vena hemiazygos; and immediately in front of the vertebral column the thoracic duct, the posterior mediastinal lymphatic glands, and the splanchnic nerves. The upper portion oj the mediastinum (Figs. 456 and 459), which is not divided by the pericardium into an anterior and a posterior cavity, contains the upper portion of the thoracic cesophagus, the trachea and its bifurcation, the arch of the aorta and its..