THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM 



323 



The liver is a reddish brown organ lying between the stomach and the 

 diaphragm and is the largest gland in the body, weighing between two and 

 three pounds. It is wedge-shaped, and divided into a smaller left lobe 

 and a larger right lobe. The two lobes are separated by the falciform 

 ligament, which is developed from the ventral mesentery and attaches the 

 Hver to the diaphragm and the ventral body-wall. Two smaller lobes, 

 the caudate and quadrate. He between the right and left lobes on their 

 inferior surface. Impressions are made on the inferior surface of the 

 hver by the pressure of the stomach, colon, kidney, suprarenal, and 

 duodenum. The gall bladder Hes below the right lobe near the duodenum. 

 The postcaval vein passes through the right lobe. 



POST CAVA VEIN 



CUT EDGE OF 

 PERITONEUM 



HEPATIC 

 ARTERY 



LEFT LOBE 



QUADRATE LOBE 



GALL BLADDER/ 



Fig. 270. — The human Hver viewed from below. 



RIGHT LOBE 



BILE DUCT 



(Redrawn after Sobotta.) 



Secretions pass from each lateral lobe by a single duct, the two uniting 

 to form the hepatic duct. Nearer the intestine, the hepatic duct joins the 

 cystic duct from the gall bladder to form the common bile duct or ductus 

 choledochus, which opens into the duodenum at a point about three or 

 four inches from the pylorus. 



The liver is a compound tubular gland, the tubules of which are 

 arranged radially around branches of the hepatic vein. Each cluster of 

 tubules around a central intralobular vein forms a lobule. The numerous 

 lobules of the liver are bound together by interlobular connective tissue 

 containing interlobular veins, which are branches of the portal vein, 

 interlobular ducts carrying bile, and branches of the hepatic artery. 

 Connexions between intralobular and interlobular veins are effected by 

 means of intralobular capillaries or sinusoids, which bathe the liver 

 tubules and supply them with the materials for secreting the bile. The 

 relations may best be understood by the examination of the diagram 



