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CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEMTHE HEARTAnatomy of the Heart
 Location and Size.
The relative size and weight of the heart give few hintsof its incredible strength. Approximately the size of a person’s fist, the hollow, cone-shaped heart weighs less than a pound. The heart is located within the bony thorax and isflanked on each side by the lungs. Its more pointed apex is directed toward the left hipand rests on the diaphgram, approximately at the level of the fifth intercoastal space. Its broader posterosuperior aspect, or base, from which the great vessels of the body emerge, points toward the right shoulder and lies beneath the second rib.
Coverings and Wall.
The heart is enclosed by a double sac of serousmembrane, the pericardium. The thin veisceral pericardium, or epicardium, tightly hugsthe external surface of the heart and is actually a part of the heart wall. It is continuous atthe heart base with the loosely applied parietal pericardium, which is reinforced on itssuperficial face by dense connective tissue. This fibrous layer helps protect the heart andanchors it to surrounding structures, such as the diagphram and sternum. A slipperylubricating fluid (serous fluid) is produced by the serous pericardial membranes. Thisfluid allows the heart to beat easily in a relatively frictionless environment as the pericardial layers slide smoothly across each other.The heart walls are composed of three layers: the outer epicardium, themyocardium, and the inner most endocardium. The myocardium consists of thick bundlesof cardiac muscle twisted and whorled into ringlike arrangements. It is the layer thatactually contracts. The myocardium is reinforced internally by a dense, fibrousconnective tissue network called the “skeleton of the heart”. The endocardium is a thin,glistening sheet of endothelium that lines the heart chambers. It is continuous with thelinings of the blood vessels leasving and entering the heart.
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