202 



THE BILE. 



plexus, the vessels of which have a general convergent direction from 

 the periphery toward the centre. At the middle part of the lobule they 

 unite to form the commencement of an efferent vessel which, from its 



central or interior posi- 



Fig. 65. tion, is termed the intra- 



lobular vein. This root- 

 let continues its course 

 until it joins one of the 

 smaller branches of the 

 hepatic vein. Each lobule 

 may therefore be con- 

 sidered as a more or less 

 ovoid, cylindrical or pris- 

 matic mass, resting upon 

 a branch of the hepatic 

 vein, and attached to this 

 vessel by its own intra- 

 lobular vein, which passes 

 through its axis and re- 

 ceives the blood collected 

 from its capillary vessels ; 

 while it is encircled by 

 terminal branches of the 

 portal vein supplying the 

 blood for its interior cir- 

 culation. 



Beside its capillary bloodvessels, the mass of the lobule is made up 

 mostly of glandular cells. These cells are generally of a five- or six- 



HEPATIC LOBULE, in transverse section, showing 

 the distribution of its bloodvessels. a, a. Interlobular 

 veins, b. Intralobular vein, c, c, c. Plexus of Capillary 

 bloodvessels in the substance of the lobule, d, d. Twigs 

 of inteilobular vein, passing to adjacent lobules. 



Fig. 66. 



GLANDULAR HEPATIC CELLS. From the 

 human liver. 



sided prismatic form, often with 

 one or two of their borders ex- 

 cavated by curvilinear furrows 

 at the points where they are in 

 contact with a capillary blood- 

 vessel. They are, on the aver- 

 age, 22 mmm. in diameter, of a 

 finely granular aspect, usually, 

 in the human subject, containing 

 one or more minute fat globules, 

 and provided with a well-marked 

 round or oval nucleolated nu- 

 cleus. The cells are every- 

 where in contact with each 

 other by their plane surfaces, 

 and each one is also in direct 

 relation at several points with 

 a capillary bloodvessel. Thus 



