“Journal, Aug 1, 1870. of the Human Liver. 83 
The size and form of those vessels, or rather ducts, of which the 
plexus is composed, vary as much as those of the glands. The 
diameter of some is as large as 445 of an inch, while in others it is 
not larger than that of a capillary vessel. They seldom present a 
uniform diameter for any great length, but are constantly changing. 
It is not unusual that, while presenting a considerable dilatation in 
one place, they suddenly diminish in diameter to the size of a capil- 
lary vessel. In the walls of the large hepatic duct, before its 
division, and also in those of the cystic duct and the gall-bladder, 
the ducts of the “hepatic glands” do not anastomose with each 
other, but after having proceeded for a greater or lesser distance, 
and received the smaller ducts of single or of groups of glands, open 
into the pouches—“ cul de sacs” of the mucous membrane, where 
their mouths can be easily observed. Here the glands are often 
collected together in bunches, but as often they are seen to join the 
main duct—which here is mostly of a small diameter—in a single 
or double row, close up to the orifice in the hepatic duct. 
In the capsule, covering the inferior surface of the liver, and 
between the larger branches of the hepatic duct before they enter 
the substance of the organ, and also in the “ capsule of the portal 
vessels,” the plexuses, formed by the ducts of the hepatic glands, 
are very extensive; especially in the vicinity of the hepatic duct. 
I have even found portions of them deeply imbedded in the walls 
of the portal vein. They are not very numerous in the “ capsule 
of the hepatic veins ;” here their glands are mostly arranged in 
single file. 
In front of the vena cava, where it passes the substance of the 
liver, and below the lowest hepatic veins, I have found another very 
extensive plexus, formed by the ducts of the “hepatic glands,” 
which anastomoses freely with the plexus of lymphatics. The 
extent of the whole was 1 inch in length and a 4 inch wide; the 
ereater part of it was enclosed between two layers of areolar tissue, 
derived from the capsule of the-liver. They were also freely sup- 
plied with blood-vessels. These plexuses I have carefully traced to 
the larger lymphatics of that region. The communication between 
the lymphatics and the ducts of the “hepatic glands” may be 
studied with the greatest advantage in this situation, and also in 
the “capsule of the hepatic veins.” Very frequently, especially in 
the plexus near the vena cava, I have observed ducts of consider- 
able size, about +, of an inch diameter or less, possessing for some 
distance no glandular appendages, and others, of the same size, with 
very small sessile or follicular glands upon their walls. 
The structure of the “hepatic glands” consists of an extremely 
thin layer of fibrous tissue, a basement membrane, 3535 of an inch 
thick—the well-defined dark outlines of which can readily be seen 
through the former—and an epithelium of hexagonal cells contain- 
