PANCREAS AND LIVER. 



151 



Let us now turn to the liver. 



The liver — as its natural external surface, or that of an arti- 

 ficial section teaches — consists of individual, crowded areae, 

 the so-called hepatic islets or hepatic lobules. In many crea- 

 tures, as the pig, the demarcation of the lobules is very dis- 

 tinct. The borders of the lobules appear tolerably distinct 

 in the human organ during the infantile period of life, but 



very indistinct, on the 

 contrary, in the adult. 

 Our liver islets are as- 

 sumed to measure, as a 



mean, 2.2 mm. 



A hepatic lobule (Fig. 

 141), however, consists 

 essentially of innumera- 

 ble gland cells and, cross- 

 ing them, an uncommon- 

 ly complicated capillary 

 net-work. The latter 

 unite at the central point 

 of the lobule to form 



Fig. 141. -Hepatic lobule of a boy ten years old, S11 initla l branch of the 

 Wiethe transverse section of the central hepatic vein hepatic Vein J the limits 



are shown externally 

 by the branches of the portal vein and the fine biliary 

 branches. 



The liver cells have already been noticed at Fig. 121. 

 These thick, obtuse-angled structures, whose mean measure- 

 ment is 0.018 to 0.023 nim., contain nuclei of 0.006 to 0.007 

 mm., with nucleoli. The soft, granular cell body remains 

 membraneless and endowed with a slow contractility (Leuc- 

 kart). The brown molecules of the biliary coloring matter 

 in the cell body, as well as the fatty embedments, we have 

 already mentioned. The latter occur in the suckling infant, 

 in adults whose diet is rich, and also in fattened animals. 

 They form the so-called fatty liver (Fig. 142). The cell sup- 

 ports such an overloading with fat (c, d) relatively well. 



