Scientific Illustration

biomedicalephemera:

Valves of the Heart, Cardiac Skeleton, and Connective Tissue of Heart

The “skeleton” of the heart is, of course, not made of bone. Between the atria and the ventricles, a layer of thick connective tissues surrounds the valves of the heart, and provides an attachment point for the connective tissue that keeps the heart from over-expanding. The chordae tendineae also use the cardiac skeleton as one of their primary attachment points.

Traité complet de l’anatomie de l’homme comprenant la medecine operatoire, par le docteur Marc Jean Bourgery. Illustration by Nicolas Henri Jacob, 1831.