Descriptive Card Log Book Entry
Rodin Number: 38
E Number: 198
Donor: Osler
Date: unknown
Size (H x W cm): 11 x 9.5
The specimen shows a portion of the base of the heart from which arise the pulmonary artery (P) and aorta (front view). An irregular 2 cm laceration is evident in the latter on both front and back (right image) views (long arrow). The obliterated ductus arteriosus has been carefully dissected (view left image, short arrow).
Comment
The descriptive card and Rodin both suggest that the specimen comes from Osler's autopsy No 125 of July 7, 1877 (described in the Montreal General Hospital Reports 1880 I: 284). However, although the case documented therein is that of a fatal stab wound, the injury is described as affecting "the left subclavian artery 1.2 cm from its origin on the arch, severing the vessel in three-fourths of its extent". The laceration in specimen 29 is clearly in the ascending aorta, and must relate to another case.