I7I6 



HUMAN ANATOMY. 



however, never lie on the narrow sides of the hver-cells opposed to the blood- 

 vessels, the bile-canal never separating the blood-capillary from the cell. While the 

 predominating direction of the bile-capillaries is radial and corresponds to the 





Fig. 1448. 



/ 



i.iJ 



H. 



r -#t"Hj 



^ \ 





^ — - — 7-;- Blood-capillary 



.Bile-capillary 



.Liver-cell 







Fig. 



1449- 



Section of liver in which both blood- and bile-capillaries have been injected ; the latter surround the individual liver- 

 cells. X 300. 



similar general disposition of the cylinders or leaflets of hepatic tissue, the radial 

 arrangement is converted into a net-work by the numerous cross-branches. The 

 resulting meshes correspond in size with the individual liver-cells, which, in appro- 

 priate sections, often appear almost com- 

 pletely surrounded by the bile-capillaries. 

 The latter possess no walls other than the 

 substance of the liver-cells between which 

 they lie. The diameter of the bile-capil- 

 laries, from .001— .002 mm., remains prac- 

 tically the same throughout the lobule until 

 the canaliculi reach the extreme periphery. 

 At this point the liver-cells abruptly dimin- 

 ish in height and are transformed into the 

 low cuboidal cells lining the excretory tubes 

 that pass from the lobule into the surround- 

 ing connective tissue to become tributaries 

 to the larger interlobular bile-ducts. 



The ultimate relations between the 

 bile-capillaries and the liver-cells is still a 

 subject of discussion. Based upon the evi- 

 dence supplied by injections and silver 

 impregnations, it is believed by some 

 (Kupffer, R. Krause, and others) that ex- 

 tensions of the bile- capillaries normally exist 

 within the substance of the cells, thus form- 

 ing intracelhdar secretion canaliadi. The latter are sometimes pictured as ending in 

 connection with minute dilatations or secretion vacuoles. While it seems certain 

 that such appearances are not artifacts, or in the least due to changes after death of 



Interlobular 

 bile-duct 



Section of liver treated by Golgi silver method, 

 showing part of intralobular net-work of bile-capil- 

 laries. X 200. 



