iyo8 



HUMAN ANATOMY. 



venosus makes but a small angle with the portal fissure, so that it is a three- instead 

 of a four-sided prism. It is also influenced by the depth of the fossa for the vena 

 cava, at times being attached merely by a line of tissue. To the left of the fissure 

 of the ductus venosus the posterior surface of the liver is continued as the posterior 

 border. This at first is thick, and presents a rounded oesophageal impression for 

 the end of the gullet to the left of which it becomes sharp. 



The inferior surface (Fig. 1442) of the liver is subdivided by a system of 

 fissures formerly described as resembling an H. This description must be modified 

 by recognizing that the posterior limbs of the H are not horizontal, but run vertically 

 on the hind surface of the liver, and that the cross-piece the portal fissure is not 

 in the middle, but very near the posterior border of the inferior surface. The old 

 error came from studying distorted livers in which the posterior surface had flattened 

 out so as to be reckoned a part of the inferior. The portal or transverse fissure 

 (porta hepatis) is of an entirely different nature from the others. It is the hilum of 

 the organ for the passage of the vessels and ducts ; while the other fissures more 

 properly deserve the name, being due to the pressure of the gall-bladder and of 

 vessels. The portal fissure is from 4-5 cm. (1^-2 in.) long. It transmits the por- 

 tal vein, the hepatic artery, the subdivisions of the gall-duct, the lymphatics, and 



Spigelian lobe 



\ 



FIG. 1441. 



Falciform ligament 



Fissure for- 

 ductus venosus 



Vena cava 



Non-peritoneal 

 surface 



Suprarenal 



vein 



Tuber omentale 



Obliterated umbilical vein 



Quadrate lobe 



Caudate lobe Gall-bladder 

 Posterior surface of same liver ; peritoneal reflection indicated by white line. 



Ri^ht lateral 

 ligament 



the nerves, all enveloped in a mass of areolar tissue known as Gtisson's capsule. 

 The large portal vein is posterior. The hepatic artery lies before it on the left and 

 the hepatic duct, formed by two chief tributaries, lies before it on the right. The 

 lesser omentum is attached to the lips of the fissure outside of these structures. At 

 its left end the portal fissure receives the umbilical fhxurc, which runs backward 

 from the notch in the anterior border and contains the obliterated umbilical vein, in 

 the adult known as the round ligament. This fissure is very often bridged over. 

 Continuous with the umbilical fissure, the fissure of the ductus venosus ascends the 

 pMMerior surface, only a small part of it being on the inferior aspect. In foetal life it 

 contained the blood-channel ( ductus venosus}\\\\\(-\\ established a short cut between the 

 umbilical vein and the inferior vena cava ; after birth it is reduced to a cord of fibrous 

 tissue i liuaiiicntnm VCIKISIIMI }. At the left end of the portal fissure the falciform liga- 

 ment joins the lesser omentum, the latter being continued backward in the tissure of 

 the dui-tns venosus. The /;>\.v,/ /,-/ ///,- gall-bladder ( fossa vcsica- fcllcie) is a depres- 

 sion <ni the under surface of the right lobe, in which that organ rests. It may or 

 mav not indent the anterior border. Broad in front, the fossa narrows to a fix sun- 

 behind that joins the right end of the portal fissure. The quadrilateral region on the 

 under surface of the right lobe, bounded by the portal fissure behind, the bonier of 

 the liver in front, the gall-bladder on the right, and the umbilical fissure on the left, 



