45 2 ELEMENTAR Y A iVA TOM Y. [LESS. 



border of the liver, on the right-hand side of the fissure of the 

 ductus venosus. It is bounded behind and on its own right 

 side by a short and deep fissure (or rather fossa) called the 

 fissure of the vena cava, because that large vein runs along it. 

 In front the Spigelian lobe is bounded by the transverse or 

 portal fissure , which crosses the under surface of the left half 

 of the right lobe of the liver, and runs, almost at right angles, 

 into the longitudinal fissure. It is into this fissure that the 

 portal vein, the hepatic artery, and the great nerves enter, and it 

 is from it that the bile-duct proceeds to convey away the biliary 

 secretion. The portal fissure runs to the right, beyond the 

 limits of the Spigelian lobe. That part of the substance of 

 the liver which is situate behind this outer part of the portal 

 fissure is called the caudate lobe (Fig. 385, c], and is a sort of 



FIG. 383. THE LIVER VIEWED FROM REI.OW. 



a, vena cava ; b, vena portae ; c, the ductus communis choledochus ; d, hepatic 

 artery ; /, gall-bladder. 



ridge which proceeds from the base of the Spigelian lobe to 

 the under surface of the great right lobe, and is in part limited 

 behind by the vena cava. That part of the right lobe which 

 is in front of the portal, or transverse, fissure is marked by a 

 depression in which lies a pear-shaped bag, called the gall- 

 bladder, which has its blind end (or fundus) forwards. The 

 anterior end of this depression often notches the anterior 

 margin of the great right lobe of the liver (Fig. 385, </). 



The bile, or hepatic, duct descends from the portal fissure, 

 in front of the vena porta, and meets the duct of the gall- 

 bladder termed the cystic duct at an acute angle. The 

 common duct formed by the union of these two is called 

 the ductus communis choledochus, and this passes into the 

 duodenum side by side with the pancreatic duct, the two 

 opening into the intestine by a common orifice. 



