CH. XXXV.] 



THE LIVER 



529 



similar manner to the portal vein, its blood being returned by small 



P p h 



FIG. 363. Capillary network of the lobules of the rabbit's liver. The figure is taken from a very 

 successful injection of the liver veins, made by Harting : it shows nearly the whole of two lobules, 

 and parts of three others ; p, interlobular (portal) branches running in the interlobular spaces ; h, 

 intralobular (hepatic) veins occupying the centre of the lobules. The interlobular and intralobular 

 vessels are connected by radiating capillaries, x 45. (Kolliker.) 



branches which pass into the capillary plexus of the lobules which 

 connects the inter- and mtfra-lobular veins. 



The hepatic duct divides and subdivides in a manner very like 

 that of the portal vein and hepatic artery, 

 the larger branches being lined by columnar, 

 and the smaller by small polygonal epi- 

 thelium. 



The bile capillaries commence between 

 the hepatic cells, and are always bounded by 

 hepatic cells on all sides, and are thus 

 separated from the nearest blood capillary 

 by at least the breadth of one cell (fig. 364). 



To demonstrate the m^r-cellular net- 

 work of bile capillaries, Chrzonszezewsky 

 employed a method of natural injection. 

 A saturated aqueous solution of sulph- 

 indigotate of soda is introduced into the 

 circulation of dogs and pigs by the jugular 

 vein. The animals are killed an hour and 

 a half afterwards, and the blood-vessels 

 washed free from blood, or injected with 

 gelatin stained with carmine. The bile- 

 ducts are then seen filled with blue, and 

 the blood-vessels with red material. If the animals are killed sooner 

 than this, the indigo pigment is found within the hepatic cells, thus 

 demonstrating it was through their agency that the canals were filled. 



2 L 



FIG. 364. Portion of a lobule of 

 liver, a, Bile capillaries be- 

 tween liver-cells; b, blood 

 capillaries, x 350. (Klein 

 and Noble Smith.) 



