v 



,. 



THE LIVER. 63 



Its veins empty into the vena portarum. Its nerves come from 

 the sympathetic, and its lymphatics join those of the liver. 



Of the Biliary Ducts. 



A succession of very fine branches haying arisen from the 

 acini of the liver, these branches are united into three or four 

 trunks by the time they reach the transverse fissure. These 

 trunks then coalesce into a single Duct, the Hepatic, of eighteen 

 or twenty lines in length, and about the diameter of a writing- 

 quill. The Hepatic Duct is then joined at a very acute angle 

 with the duct from the gall-bladder, which is somewhat shorter 

 and smaller; the union of the two forms the Common Duct, 

 (Ductus Communis Choledochus.) The latter is larger than 

 either of the others singly, and is three or three and a half 

 inches long; it descends behind the right extremity of the pan- 

 creas through its substance, passes for an inch, obliquely, be- 

 tween the coats of the duodenum, becoming at the same time 

 diminished in diameter; and, finally, ends by an orifice still 

 more contracted, on the internal face of this gut, on its second 

 turn, and about three or four inches from the stomach. The 

 orifice is marked by a small surrounding tubercle somewhat 

 obscured by the valvulse conniventes. 



The Hepatic, the Cystic, and the Common Duct are situated, 

 as mentioned, along the right margin of the lesser ornentum, and 

 have the vena portarum and the hepatic artery to their left. 



The bile ducts are formed by two coats; the external is a 

 fibrous, lamellated, and very extensible membrane, while the 

 internal is mucous, having the same structure with that of the 

 gall bladder, of which it is in direct continuation. In the Cystic 

 Duct, and at the lower part of the Common Duct, are several 

 longitudinal folds. The Common Duct sometimes receives, 

 just before it empties into the duodenum, the Pancreatic Duct, 



Of the Bile. 



This secretion from the liver, is of a deep yellow, sometimes 

 green colour: when recent, it is thin and fluid; but after it has 



