THE LIVER. 581 



between the branches of the portal and those of the hepatic 

 veins, as well as between both these and the artery. The 

 capillary terminations of the vena portarum are distributed 

 upon the acini, where they anastomose freely with each 

 other and with the hepatic veins. This vein furnishes the 

 blood for the secretion of the bile. 



The venae, cavce hepaticce, or the hepatic veins, commence 

 in the acini, from the capillary terminations of the hepatic 

 artery and vena portse, which successively converge into 

 three large trunks, greatly exceeding, in size, the other 

 vessels of the liver. Two of these come from the right lobe, 

 the other from the left, and enter the superior cava, just as 

 it is about passing through the diaphragm. Just below 

 these are generally seen five or six, and sometimes more, 

 hepatic veins, which return the blood from the lobulus 

 Spigelii and other portions of the liver. 



In connection with these vessels, the umbilical vein should 

 be mentioned. This vein is peculiar to the foetus, and car- 

 ries the blood from the placenta of the mother, through 

 the umbilical opening in the foetus, to the transverse fissure 

 of the liver, where it divides one branch being continuous 

 with the vena portse, throughout the liver, the other pro- 

 ceeding backward, in the posterior part of the umbilical 

 fissure, to join the ascending cava. This is the ductus ve- 

 nosus. After birth, both the umbilical vein and ductus 

 venosus are obliterated and become ligamentous cords. , 



The hepatic ducts commence in the acini of the liver, by 

 very fine branches termed port biliariij which, successively 

 uniting, finally converge to the transverse fissure, by three 

 or four trunks, which again unite into a single tube about 

 an inch and a half long, called the hepatic duct. This 

 unites, at an acute angle, with the cystic duct, forming, by 

 their union, the ductus communis choledochus. This com- 

 mon duct descends from the liver, behind the right extrem- 

 ity of the pancreas, and in its substance, and then passes 

 obliquely through the coats of the duodenum, to end by an 

 orifice, marked by a papilla, on the mucous surface of this 

 intestine, at the posterior part of its second curve. 



