THE LIVER. 61 



while the primordial, or most minute ones, converge several of 

 them to the same point, giving a penicillous appearance. These 

 several tubes constitute the Biliary Pores (Pori Biliarii) apd are 

 always in the same group with the branches of the Vena / Por- 

 tarum and hepatic artery. It is asserted that a fine injection 

 passes more readily from them into the lymphatics than into 

 any other order of vessels; which may account for the prompti- 

 tude of jaundice upon an obstruction of the hepatic duct. 



At the bottom of the transverse fissure *of the liver is to be 

 found a dense cellular fibrous tissue, which invests the vena 

 portarum, the hepatic artery, and the biliary ducts; and, as they 

 all keep together in their ramifications, this tissue follows them 

 throughout the substance of the liver, and thereby forms sheaths 

 for them. It may be considered as continuous with the pro- 

 cesses sent in from the cellular coat; and, contrary to the opi- 

 nion of Glisson, whose capsule it has been called, it is devoid 

 of muscular structure.* 



Of the Gall Bladder. 



The Gall Bladder (Cistis Felled) is a reservoir, for the bile se- 

 creted by the liver. It is fixed on the under surface of the great 

 lobe, to the right of the umbilical fissure, and removed from the 

 latter by the lobulus quartus.f It is an oblong pyriform sac, 

 having its anterior extremity or fundus projecting somewhat be- 

 yond the anterior margin of the liver, while the posterior end 

 reaches to the transverse fissure. Its long diameter inclines 

 slightly to the right side, so that it is not precisely in an ante- 

 ro-posterior line. It varies in its shape in different subjects, be- 

 ing much more spheroidal in some than in others. Its fundus 

 is rounded and obtuse, while the posterior end is gradually re- 

 duced to a narrow neck, which is bent up on itself, so as to re- 

 tard the flow of a fluid through it. Its upper surface is in con- 

 tact with the substance of the liver, and is received into a broad 



* An elaborate work on the minute anatomy of the liver has lately appeared, 

 from the English press, by Francis Kiernan, Esq. R. C. Surgeons, London, 1833, 

 in which there are some peculiar notions of structure. It is highly creditable to 

 the zeal of the author, and well worthy of perusal. 



f I have seen an instance where it was to the left of the umbilical fissure, on 

 the small lobe. The latter was much longer than common. Dec. 1830. 



VOL. II. 7 



