STRUCTURE OF THE LIVER 



365 



the portal vein and from the hepatic artery, while the blood is returned from 

 it into the vena cava inferior by the hepatic veins. Its secretion, the bile, 

 is conveyed from it by the hepatic duct, either directly into the intestine or, 

 when digestion is not going on, into the cystic duct, and thence into the gall- 



FIG. 270. Portion of a Lobule of Liver, a, Bile capillaries between liver cells, the network 

 in which is well seen; b, blood capillaries. X 350. (Klein and Noble Smith.) 



bladder, where it accumulates until required. The portal vein, hepatic 

 artery, and hepatic duct branch together throughout the liver, while the 

 hepatic veins and their tributaries run by themselves. The interstices of the 

 vessels are filled by the liver cells. 



FIG. 271. Hepatic Cells and Bile Capillaries, from the Liver of a Child Three Months 

 Old. Both figures represent fragments of a section carried through the periphery of a 

 lobule. The red corpuscles of the blood are recognized by their circular contour; Tp 

 corresponds to an interlobular vein in immediate proximity with which are the epithelial 

 cells of the biliary ducts. (E. Hering.) 



Structure of the Liver. The liver is made up of small roundish or 

 oval portions called lobules, each of which is about ^V f an mc h (about 

 i mm.) in diameter, and includes the minute hepatic artery and hepatic 

 duct. The hepatic cells, which form the glandular or secreting part of the 



