Recent efforts to study quantitatively the influence on systemic venous pressure of pressure applied manually over the hepatic region in normal man and in patients with chronic congestive heart failure revealed the need for a method to control such manual pressure quantitatively.1This need was particularly evident during comparisons of reactions to pressure over the hepatic area among different people and in the same person under varying circumstances or at different times. Furthermore, patients with severe or advanced congestive heart failure are often unable to withstand as much pressure as normal subjects or patients with other diseases. Thus, it would be desirable to know the amount of pressure and force that can be tolerated over the hepatic area. As a result of efforts to quantitate and control the amount of pressure and force applied over the hepatic area during the hepatojugular reflux test, the "hepatojugularometer" was designed. The apparatus