In the course of a general study of the anatomy of the infant's chest it seemed to us desirable to attempt to determine accurately the relation of the fissures of the lung to the bony framework of the thorax. We felt that carefully obtained data would be valuable not only for comparison with similar relations as they exist in the adult, but also as a stimulus toward greater accuracy in the clinical diagnosis of pleuropulmonary disease.
A careful search of the standard textbooks and of the periodical literature which has appeared since 1905 shows nothing in reference to the course of the fissures in infants. Symington1 states that the only gross difference between the position of the lungs in children and in adults lies in the fact that in the former the anterior margins of the lungs are not as closely approximated as in the adult, in other words,