1894.] 3IICR0SC0P1CAL JOURNAL. 09 



Points not Shown. — Besides the points referrtMl 

 to already all of which are shown except the bile capilla- 

 ries, the liver is supplied with nerve fibres. These are 

 not distinguishable from tlie connective tissue surround- 

 ing them, but it is known that both medullated and non- 

 medullated fibres are given off to the liver from the 

 coeliac plexus as well as from the pneumogastric nerve 

 and it is probable that these are distributed both to the 

 arterioles " vaso-motors" and to tlie glandular cells [s(>e 

 Landois and Stirling, 324]. 



Conclusion. — This is not the place for any extended 

 discussion of the use of facts thus learned of the liver in 

 aiding toward an understanding of the physiology and 

 pathology of the organ, but I may perhaps allude to the 

 matter. The hepatic cells as well as the other living- 

 cells in the organ are subject to the same laws of life as 

 organisms in any situation, hence conditions of food, 

 temperature, alternation of rest and work, and all the 

 conditions which affect life must affect these living cells. 

 The cell is so situated that it is entirely at the mercy of 

 its surroundings and unless these are iiygienic the cells 

 must suffer. If the liver is in a healthy state, and sections 

 are made of it after a meal especially one in which an 

 abundance of starchy food has been taken the cells are 

 seen to contain granules of glycogen, before such a meal 

 the cells are as shown in our figure composed of ])roto- 

 plasm wholly. The secretion of other tiian the normal 

 material as for instance of fat or of pigment if it was to 

 take place on an extensive scale would cut out a large 

 number of cells from the aggregate of workers in the 

 organ, if cells should die and their places be taken by 

 foreign cells this would have the same effect, the vascu- 

 lar system might become defective so that the cells 

 would not receive the needed food or oxygen and thus a 

 series of difficulties are possible on this line, while if the 

 temperature of the organ rises too high here again are 



