PHYSIOLOGICAL AST ATOMY OF THE LIVER. 



dition, they are more frequently ovoid than polygonal, and 

 when they have the latter form, the corners are always 

 rounded. These cells present one and sometimes two nu- 

 clei, sometimes with and sometimes without nucleoli. The 

 presence of numerous small pigmentary granules gives to 

 the cells a peculiar and characteristic appearance ; and, in 

 addition, nearly all of them contain a few granules or small 

 globules of fat. Sometimes the fatty and pigmentary mat- 

 ter is so abundant as to obscure the nuclei. The addition 

 of acetic acid renders the cells pale and the nuclei more dis- 

 tinct. By appropriate reagents, animal starch (probably 

 glycogenic matter) has been demonstrated in the substance 

 of the cells. 1 



Arrangement of the Bile-ducts in the Lobules. Before 

 the publication of the researches of Kiernan, no reasonable 

 speculations, even, had been made with regard to the ulti- 

 mate arrangement of the bile-ducts. Kiernan supposed that 

 the lobules contained a reticulated net-work of ducts com- 

 municating with the ducts in the interlobular spaces ; but 

 he only inferred their existence, and his figures, which have 

 been extensively copied, are merely diagrammatic. 2 The 

 same arrangement essentially was described by Prof. Leidy> 

 who figures a net-work of canals in the lobules, lined with 

 the liver-cells ; but the evidence in favor of this view is not 

 convincing. 3 The results of the researches of Beale were at 

 one time adopted by many anatomists. Beale supposed 

 that there existed in the lobules delicate tubes, about as 

 wide as the liver-cells, each tube enclosing a row of these 

 cells. 4 The presence of this delicate membrane, however, 



1 SCHIFF, De la nature des granulations qui remplissent les cellules hepatiques : 

 Amidon animate. Comptes rendus, Paris, 1859, tome xlviii., p. 880. 



2 KIERXAN, op. cit. Philosophical Transactions, London, 1833, p. 711, ft seq. 



3 LEIDY, Researches into the Comparative Structure of the Liver. American 

 Journal of the Medical Sciences, Philadelphia, 1848, Xew Series, vol. xv., p. 13, 

 el seq. 



4 BEALE, On some Points in the Anatomy of the Liver of Man and Vertebrate 

 Animals, London, 1856, p. 73. 



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