OH. XXXIII.] 



THE LIVER. 



495 



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- 

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



Fig. 404. A. Liver-cells. B. Ditto, containing various-sized particles of fat. 



hepatic artery, and hepatic duct branch together throughout 

 the liver, while the hepatic veins and their tributaries run by 

 themselves. 



Fig. 405. Longitudinal section of a portal canal, containing a portal vein, hepatic artery 

 and hepatic duct, from the pig. r, branch of vena portxe, situated in a portal 

 canal amnngMt the lobules of the liver ; /. /, and giving off vaginal branches ; there 

 are also seen within the large portal vein numerous orifices of the smallest inter- 

 lobular veins arising directly from it ; a, hepatic artery ; </, bile duct, x 5. 

 (Kiernan.) 



On the outside, the liver has an incomplete covering of peri- 

 toneum, and beneath this is \\ very fine coat of arcolar tissue, 

 continuous over the whole surface of the organ. It is thickest 

 where the peritoneum is absent, and is continuous on the general 

 surface of the liver with the fine and, in the human subject, 

 almost imperceptible areolar tissue investing the lobules. At the 



