Word: pericardium
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Heart "Brake." Long has the pericardium, a fibroserous, inelastic membrane which surrounds the heart, been a puzzle to physiologists. Its function has been discovered by George Crisler and Edward Jerald Van Liere of the University of West Virginia. The inelastic sac acts as a brake, keeps the heart, the muscular control of which, is not sufficient to prevent undue dilation, from going out of bounds, breaking...
...large amount of elastic tissue in the lungs, so that by virtue of their elasticity they can expel a large part of the air which they contain when inflated. A certain amount, however, always remains. As the heart is enclosed in a sort of sack called the pericardium, so are the lungs enclosed in a sack, the pleura, the inner part of which passes over the outside of the lungs and the outer part lines the inside of the chest. In health there is nothing between these two surfaces but a little moisture which helps them to slip easily...
...come to an untimely end by over-eating. I learned that his name was Simpel, and that he had been a member of the Freshman class here. The chief interest in this case centred around the heart, which the surgeons took especial care to dissect. On cutting away the pericardium, the aorta was found to wear a greenish hue, attributable, I was told, to the tender age of the subject. One lobe was slightly toughened, and I noticed that this hardness was gradually spreading over the whole organ. This symptom, the doctors said, always appears after doses of beer...