_Ectopia Cordis_, where, from some arrest of development, in the inclosing parts, the heart may be found in some position other than its normal one. From deficiency of the sternum and ribs, the heart has been found protruding from the chest, (_ectopia pectoralis_,) or from absence or deficiency of the diaphragm, it may be found in the abdomen with the abdominal viscera. Such cases live but a short time after birth. _Transposition_ of the heart is found in those cases where all the viscera, abdominal and thoracic, are exactly reversed in position. A case of this kind was discovered in the dissecting-room a few years ago, by Dr. R. B. Weaver, demonstrator of anatomy, in the Hahnemann Medical College. The heart was here upon the right side, the aorta curving to the left; the liver upon the left; the stomach with its pylorus to the left; the colon commencing in the left iliac fossa; in short, everything completely reversed in position. The subject was a female of about thirty years, and undoubtedly suffered no inconvenience from the abnormal positions. The more frequent displacements of the heart, however, are those resulting from disease in the surrounding structures. It may be crowded from its normal position, by pleuritic effusions, accumulations of air (pneumothorax), or even by a highly emphysematous lung. Displacements may also result from the presence of aneurismal or other tumors in the chest; curvatures of the spine; or from a hernial protrusion of some of the abdominal viscera through an opening in the diaphragm; or the presence of tumors, enlarged viscera, dropsies, etc., within the abdomen. 7. Contents of the Cavities. =Heart Clots.= This subject is one that has until recently, been but imperfectly understood; and now even, our knowledge relating to it, is by no means complete. Enough is known, however, to convince us that _heart clots_, are a more frequent cause of sudden death, than has been heretofore supposed. Having in a recent paper, read before the Philadelphia County Homœopathic Medical Society, quite fully treated of this subject, I shall here merely transcribe the leading points of the same.[12] _Fibrinous heart clots_, _polypus of the heart_, _or fatty deposits_, as they are sometimes called, differ from ordinary clots of blood, in the absence of the blood corpuscles, and hence, presenting the buff color characteristic of the coagulated fibrin of the blood. Ordinary blood clots, with the corpuscles entangled with the fibrin—and hence presenting the red color of blood—are usually found in the cavities of the heart and large blood-vessels after death, but in greater quantity upon the right side. _Color._ The shade of color presented by the fibrinous clot varies in different cases. While _buff_ is the prevailing color, the shade varies from a light drab to a decided yellow.