An Account of a Praeternatural Bony Substance Found in the Cavity of the Thorax, Communicated in a Letter to Dr. Rutty, by Mr. William Giffard, Surgeon

VIII. An Account of a praeternatural Bony Substance found in the Cavity of the Thorax, communicated in a Letter to Dr. Rutty, by Mr. William Giffard, Surgeon. On Tuesday, May the 10th, 1726, I open'd the Body of a Person, who dy'd the foregoing Day of a Peripneumonia; in the right side of whose Thorax I found an osseous Substance about the fourth of an Inch thick, six Inches long, and three broad, extending itself under the third, fourth, fifth and sixth Ribs, closely and strongly connected to the Periosteum of the Ribs, and the Tunica propria of the inner Intercostal Muscles, by Fibres which shot from a strong and thick intervening Membrane, which closely adher'd to its outer Surface or Back, and was continu'd over its inner likewise, thereby forming a Capsula for this praeternatural Substance. Its upper Edge lay immediately below, and was contiguous to that Part of the Ribs, where they become cartilaginous: The Membrane that adher'd to, and cover'd it, continu'd thick some distance from it, and gradually grew thinner, and was at length lost in the Pleura; from whence I judg'd this extraneous Body to have been form'd between the two Lamellæ of that Membrane. The Lungs so strongly adher'd to its Inside, that upon separating them, part remain'd to it: Upon cutting into which, I observ'd all the Cells stuff'd with a thin, but somewhat digested Pus. Upon farther Enquiry, I found on the same side, towards the Back, another Substance, but perfectly Bone, invested as the former, with a strong and thick Membrane brane, and by the Fibres which shot from it, tied to the Body of the Vertebrae, and the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh Ribs, and Intercostal Muscles. Its Back or Outside was convex, agreeable to the concave Surface of the Ribs, which had made In- dentations on that part of it where they press'd: Its Inside was concave as the Ribs; the right Lobe of the Lungs strongly adhered, part of which for that reason remained to it after Separation: Its Length was about seven Inches, Breadth about three from Edge to Edge: Its Thickness, in some parts a third, in others a fourth of an Inch. It had, as the former, a thick Membrane running from it, which gradually thinning was at length lost in the Pleura; from whence I judge this extraneous Substance to have been formed as the forementioned. "Since Mr. Giffard has not inserted the Particulars of this Gentleman's Indisposition, I shall add, that upon Inquiry, I have since been inform'd, that he was troubl'd for some Years with a short Cough, which latterly was accompanied with a difficulty of Breathing, and great Labour in Inspiration; and some time after, with a Weight and Pain on the right Side; which Symptoms encreasing more and more, brought on the Peripneumonia, of which he died in a few Days. The Rise and Succession of those different Symptoms proceed so naturally from the Formation and Growth of this praeterna- tural Body, as well as the particular part of the Thorax where it was lodg'd, that it is entirely need- less to say any thing more upon them. W. Rutty. IX. An