198 ANTHROPOLOGY. 



anterior edge of the liver upwards between the right and left lobes ; the 

 fissure for the vena cava, between the lobulus spigelii and the right lobe • 

 the depression of the gall bladder, to the right of the lobulus quadratus; 

 two superficial depressions on the under side of the right lobe ; a superficial 

 depression on the under surface of the left lobe ; and lastly, a broad notch 

 in the posterior edge of the liver. Several notches may be observed in the 

 circumference of the liver. 



Tlie liver is of a peculiar brown color, mottled with yellow, and consists 

 of numerous small granulations or lobules, connected together by branches 

 of the hepatic arteries and veins, and of the vena porta and biliary ducts, 

 and by lymphatics and nerves, the whole cemented together by a fibrous 

 coat which covers the surface, and sends inwards numerous subdividing 

 laminae so as to form a capsule for each lobule. This coat also accom- 

 panies the three vessels of the liver which enter or leave the transverse 

 fissure, and forms a sheath round their ramifications throughout the entire 

 organ, known as Glisson^s capsule. The lobules are small granules, com- 

 posed of a plexus of biliary ducts, of a portal venous plexus, of an inter- 

 lobular branch of an hepatic vein, and of minute arteries. The circulation 

 of blood in the liver has already been described under the vascular system. 

 The venous blood from the vena porta is brought to this organ and distri- 

 buted throughout its substance. There it is subjected to certain influences 

 which result in the elaboration of bile, which, after collecting from innu- 

 merable fine canals, flows into the hepatic ducts which unite into a common 

 hepatic duct. This duct descends for about an inch and a half along the 

 lesser omentum, and is then joined at an acute angle by the cystic duct 

 from the gall bladder; the union of the two forms the ductus choledochus 

 communis. The latter duct, about three and a half inches long, perforates 

 the coats of the duodenum very obliquely opposite to its lower angle ; here 

 it is usually joined on the left side by the duct from the pancreas. 



The gall bladder is a pear-shaped reservoir, the neck of which is extended 

 into the cystic duct, which joins the hepatic duct at an acute angle to form 

 the choledochus communis. It serves to retain the bile when not wanted 

 in the intestinal canal ; when pressed upon by the presence of food in the 

 duodenum, its contents are forced out through the cystic duct and the 

 ductus conmiunis. Bile may pass directly from the liver to the intestines 

 without entering the gall bladder at all. 



7. The Spleen is a soft spongy mass, situated between the stomach and 

 ribs, beneath the diaphragm, and above the kidney and colon. It has no 

 excretory duct, but its vein joins the vena porta directly, and it may there- 

 fore be considered as accessory to the liver in its function of depuration. 

 Its precise ofiice, however, is not known. On the concave surface, turned 

 towards the stomach, there is a central depression or fissure, termed the hilum. 



8. The Pancreas, or sweetbread, lies behind the stomach. It is a con- 

 glomerate gland, very similar in appearance and texture to the salivary 

 glands. It is flat, thin, and elongated, about seven inches long and an inch 

 and a half broad. The middle portion is called the body ; the splenic or 

 left extremity is the tail ; the right, broad and flat, is the head. The pan- 



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