There are several cases of complete transposition of the viscera on record. This bizarre anomaly was probably observed first in 1650 by Riolanus, but the most celebrated case was that of Morand in 1660, and Mery described the instance later which was the subject of the following quatrain:-- "La nature, peu sage et sans douse en debauche Placa le foie au cote gauche, Et de meme, vice versa Le coeur a le droite placa." Young cites an example in a woman of eighty-five who died at Hammersmith, London. She was found dead in bed, and in a postmortem examination, ordered to discover if possible the cause of death, there was seen complete transposition of the viscera. The heart lay with its base toward the left, its apex toward the right, reaching the lower border of the 4th rib, under the right mamma. The vena cava was on the left side and passed into the pulmonary cavity of the heart, which was also on the left side, the aorta and systemic ventricle being on the right. The left splenic vein was lying on the superior vena cava, the liver under the left ribs, and the spleen on the right side underneath the heart. The esophagus was on the right of the aorta, and the location of the two ends of the stomach was reversed; the sigmoid flexure was on the right side. Davis describes a similar instance in a man. Herrick mentions transposition of viscera in a man of twenty-five. Barbieux cites a case of transposition of viscera in a man who was wounded in a duel. The liver was to the left and the spleen and heart to the right etc. Albers, Baron, Beclard, Boyer, Bull, Mackensie, Hutchinson, Hunt, Murray, Dareste, Curran, Duchesne, Musser, Sabatier, Shrady, Vulpian, Wilson, and Wehn are among others reporting instances of transposition and inversion of the viscera. Congenital extroversion or eventration is the result of some congenital deficiency in the abdominal wall; instances are not uncommon, and some patients live as long as do cases of umbilical hernia proper. Ramsey speaks of entire want of development of the abdominal parietes. Robertson, Rizzoli, Tait, Hamilton, Brodie, Denis, Dickie, Goyrand, and many others mention extroversion of viscera from parietal defects. The different forms of hernia will be considered in another chapter. There seem to be no authentic cases of complete absence of the kidney except in the lowest grades of monstrosities. Becker, Blasius, Rhodius, Baillie, Portal, Sandifort, Meckel, Schenck, and Stoll are among the older writers who have observed the absence of one kidney. In a recent paper Ballowitz has collected 213 cases, from which the following extract has been made by the British Medical Journal:--