[ 235 J 



SECT. XXV. 



OF THE BILK. 



369. THE bile is secreted by the liver* the most 

 ponderous and the largest of all the viscera, especially 

 in the fcetus,f in which its size is inversely as the age. 

 The high importance of this organ is manifested, both 

 by its immense supply of blood-vessels and their 

 extraordinary distribution, as well as by its general 

 existence. It is not less common to all red-blooded 

 animals than the heart itself. 



370. The substance of the liver is peculiar, easily 

 distinguished at first sight from that of other viscera, 

 of well-known colour and delicate texture, % supplied 

 with numerous nerves, lymphatics (most remarkable 

 on the surface), || biliferous ducts, and, what these ducts 



* Eustachius, tab. xi. fig. 3, 4. Ruysch, Thes. Anal. xii. tab. iv. Santorini, 

 Tab. Posth. xi. 



t J. Bleuland, Icon hepatis foetus octimestris. Traj. ad Rhen. 1789. 4tou 



F. L. D. Ebeling, De Pulmonitm cum hepate antagonismo. Goett. 1806. 8vo, 



I In which, however, Autenreith discovers two substances, the one medullary 

 and the other cortical. Archiv.fiir die Physiol. T. vii. p. 299. 



Walter, tab. iv. 



|| Maur. v. Reverhorst, De motu bilis circulari ejusque morbis. tab. L 

 fig. 1, 2. 



Ruysch, Ep. problemat. v. tab. vi. 



Werner and Feller, Descriptio vasor. lacteor. atque lyinphaticor. Fascic. i. 

 tab. iii. ct iv. although Fr. Aug. Walter finds fault with these plates. Annot. 

 Academic, p. 191 sq. 



Mascagni. tab. xvii. xviii. 



