THE LIVER. 



595 



these conditions we may find on a section of the liver larger and smaller 

 yellowish or grayish spots, the larger of which may be soft and present 

 the usual characters of abscesses. The smaller, which may not be larger 

 than a pin's head, may present the usual consistence of liver tissue with 

 the lobular structure still evident ; others may be softer, more yellow, 

 and surrounded by a zone of hyperaemic liver tissue. Microscopical ex- 

 amination of the earlier stages often shows the blood-vessels filled with 

 bacteria, scattered and in masses. Around these the liver cells are found 

 in various stages of necrosis ; in many the nuclei do not stain and the 

 bodies are very granular, or the entire cell is broken down into a mass 

 of detritus. About these necrotic islets of liver cells pus cells collect 

 and often form a zone of dense infiltration (Fig. 42, page 114). Thus, 

 by the increase of pus cells and the necrosis of liver tissue, small ab- 

 scesses are formed whose contents are intermingled with greater or less 

 numbers of bacteria (Fig. 360), which seem to increase in number as the 

 process goes on. By the confluence of small abscesses larger ones may 



v~ : 



FIG. 360. SMALL ABSCESSES IN THE LIVER CONTAINING BACILLI. 



be formed. Death usually ensues, however, before the abscesses attain 

 a very large size. 



Chronic Interstitial Hepatitis (Cirrhosis). The most marked result of 

 chronic interstitial hepatitis is the formation of new connective tissue in 

 the liver. The character, amount, and distribution of the new tissue 

 vary greatly in different cases. Secondarily there are usually marked 

 changes in the liver cells and in the blood-vessels and gall ducts. The 



