224 



ELEMENTS OF PHYSIOLOGY 



it is stored until food is eaten, when it enters the alimentary 

 canal and aids in the digestion of the fats. (2) It serves 

 as a storeroom for digested food. You learned that all 

 foods but the fats were carried to the liver when absorbed 



(Fig. 178). Some of them 

 are stored there and given 

 out gradually as needed. 

 (3) The liver is an excretory 

 organ. As the blood contain- 

 ing the food passes through 

 it, poisonous substances in 

 the blood from the tissues, 

 or poisons that may be in the 

 food, are destroyed and the 

 products resulting from the de- 

 struction are sent out of the 

 body by either of two routes : 

 by way of the bile duct and 

 alimentary canal or by way 

 of the blood vessels and kid- 

 neys. 



As only one of these three 

 functions is strictly digestive, 

 it is more logical to treat the 



carrying the Blood from the Viscera liver Somewhat apart from 



to the Liver ' the digestive organs. 



398. Its Duty as a Guar- 



from each other, /.pancreas; j/, spleen; fa^, fhe food (except the 



ac, cd, large intestine. The transverse 



colon and the small intestine have been re- fats) HlllSt paSS the tCSt in the 



liver before it can reach the 



system. All the blood in the body passes through it once 

 every three or four minutes, and as it passes it is purified. 

 The waste products resulting from the work done in the 

 body are made more soluble, so that they can be carried 

 through the kidneys. The yellow color of the bile is due to a 



