arf eRe ty of the Human Liver. 71 
branches of the hepatic veins; the other commences independently 
within the lobule and terminates in the finest branches of the 
hepatic duct and those of the lymphatic vessels. 
In examining a piece of human liver with the naked eye, it 
appears to be divided into lobules. This appearance is caused by 
a mere dovetailing of the inter-lobular vessels enveloped in their 
sheath, with each other. In the hog, and a few other animals, 
however, the division into lobules is complete; each being sepa- 
rated from the other by a fibrous capsule, derived from the sheath 
of the blood-vessels. Thus, each lobule in these animals might be 
considered a liver in miniature. 
Like other abdominal viscera, the liver is everywhere (with the 
exception of its posterior surface) covered by the peritoneum. 
Prolonged duplicatures of this membrane form four of the liga- 
ments by which the organ is suspended; the fifth, consisting of 
the remains of the umbilical vein of the foetus, is contained within 
the two layers of one of the other. 
Besides the peritoneal covering, the liver has a special capsule 
of areolar tissue, which occupies an important part in its anatomy. 
At the inferior surface of the organ, this capsule is derived from 
the sheath of the different vessels as they enter the latter; at the 
posterior surface it is blended with the areolar tissue surrounding 
the ascending vena cava. Its office is the same as that of all other 
fascie, that is, to support and connect the vessels and parenchyma 
of the organ; its structure is not very dense. In some places it is 
more strongly developed than in others; this is especially the case 
in the neighbourhood of the hepatic ducts and arteries, where it hag 
a great number of vascular branches and glands to support. On the 
surface of the organ it adheres to the peritoneum, but, with care, 
both membranes can easily be separated. 
From that part of the capsule which envelops the whole sur- 
face of the liver, prolongations proceed over the blood-vessels, ducts, 
&e., as they enter the organ, and, enveloping them as a sheath of 
support, are extended to their finest branches, where they at last 
disappear, by blending with the coats of the latter. One of these 
prolongations, generally known under the name of the “ Capsule of 
Glisson,” encloses the portal vein, hepatic artery and hepatic duct 
with their lymphatic vessels and nerves; another surrounds the 
hepatic veins with their lymphatics and nerves—its existence was 
formerly denied. As these processes of the capsule are strictly 
analogous in their structure and function, I shall, for the sake of 
simplicity, style them the “capsules of the hepatic veins” and 
“ portal vessels.” If there be any existing difference between them 
it consists only in a stronger development of the latter. 
In the capsule of the liver, and in the prolongations derived 
from it, there exists another system of special organs whose func- 
