514 LOBES OF THE LIVER. 



The Fissure far the gall-bladder is a shallow fossa extending for- 

 wards, parallel with the longitudinal fissure, from the right extre- 

 mity of the transverse fissure to the free border of the liver, where 

 it frequently forms a notch. 



The Fissure for the vena cava is a deep and short fissure occa- 

 sionally a rounded tunnel, which proceeds from a little behind the 

 right extremity of the transverse fissure to the posterior border of 

 the liver, and lodges the inferior vena cava. 



These five fissures taken collectively resemble an inverted y, 

 the base corresponding with the free margin of the liver, and the 

 apex with its posterior border. Viewing them in this way, the two 

 anterior branches represent the longitudinal fissure on the left, and 

 the fissure for the gall-bladder on the right side ; the two posterior, 

 the fissure for the ductus venosus on the left, and the fissure for the 

 vena cava on the right side, and the connecting bar the transverse 

 fissure. 



Lobes. The Right lobe is four or six times larger than the left, 

 from which it is separated on the concave surface by the longitu- 

 dinal fissure, and on the convex by the longitudinal ligament. It is 

 marked upon its under surface by the transverse fissure, and by the 

 fissures for the gall-bladder and vena cava, and presents three 

 depressions, one in front for the curve of the ascending colon, and 

 two behind for the right supra-renal capsule, and kidney. 



The Left lobe is small and flattened, convex upon its upper sur- 

 face, and concave, below, where it lies in contact with the anterior 

 surface of the stomach. It is sometimes in contact by its extre- 

 mity with the upper end of the spleen, arid is in relation by its pos- 

 terior border with the cardiac orifice of the stomach, and left pneu- 

 mogastric nerve. 



The lobus quadratus is a quadrilateral lobe situated upon the 

 under surface of the right lobe : it is bounded in front by the free 

 border of the liver; behind by the transverse fissure ; to the right 

 by the gall-bladder ; and to the left by the longitudinal fissure. 



The Lobus Spigelii* is a small triangular lobe, also situated upon 

 the under surface of the right lobe: it is bounded in front by the 

 transverse fissure ; and on the sides by the fissures for the ductus 

 venosus and vena cava. 



The Lobus c'audatus is a small tail-like appendage to the lobus 

 Spigelii, from which it runs outwards like a crest into the right 

 lobe, and serves to separate the right extremity of the transverse 

 fissure from the commencement of the fissure for the vena cava. In 

 some livers this lobe is extremely well-marked, in others it is small 

 and ill-defined. 



Reverting to the comparison of the fissures with an inverted y , it 



* Adrian Spigel, a Belgian physician, professor at Padua after Casserius in 1616. 

 He assigned considerable importance to this little lobe, but it had been described by 

 Sylvius full sixty years before his time. 



