582 THE LIVER. 



This duct is to the right of the artery, having the vena 

 portaa behind and between the two. It has two coats the 

 internal is mucous, and the external fibrous. The use of 

 the biliary ducts is to convey the bile, after its secretion in 

 the liver, to either the duodenum or the gall bladder. 



The lymphatics are numerous and arranged into a super- 

 ficial and deep set. The former are seen beneath the peri- 

 toneum, in the form of a net-work. The latter pass out 

 of the liver, at its transverse fissure, and go to the adjacent 

 lymphatic glands, or enter the thoracic duct. 



The nerves come from the solar plexus, and accompany 

 the blood-vessels into the liver. Some filaments are traced 

 from the pneumogastric and phrenic. 



The Acini. This element is best seen by tearing the 

 liver, when it presents the form of granules, about the size 

 of millet seed, which, from their resemblance to the seed of 

 the grape, were called, by Malpighi, acini. Their shape is 

 described as spheroidal, or polyhedral, and each one is con- 

 sidered a perfect miniature of the entire gland, as each is 

 composed of the capillary blood-vessels of the liver, with 

 commencing radicles of the excretory ducts or pori biliarii. 



MICROSCOPIC ANATOMY OP THE LIVER. 



The observations of Mr. Kiernan are generally received 

 as the most accurate, though their entire correctness has 

 been called in question by some of the most respectable 

 anatomists. According to this gentleman, the acini of 

 Malpighi should be called lobules, as they contain still 

 smaller granules, which he calls the proper acini, and 

 which present two colors a brown and a yellow, termed 

 the cortical and medullary portions. 



This distinction, however, is now pretty generally aban- 

 doned, the structures being regarded the same, and the 

 difference in colors being considered as due to the higher 

 vascularity of the brown, and the presence of bile in the 

 origins of the pori biliarii of the yellow. 



The lobules present a rounded form with angular pro- 

 jections. Each has a base which rests upon a hepatic vein, 



