A method is presented for dissecting the heart at autopsy by which the individual cardiac ventricles can be weighed and compared. It is simpler than previous methods and consists essentially in weighing a uniform sample of each ventricle, called the standard ventricular segment. From a group of carefully selected subjects, normal values are established for the right and left ventricular segment of both sexes and for the ratio between right and left segments. The ratio agrees closely with the ratios obtained by others using more complicated methods.