114 Malpighi and the Physiology [lect. 



" described as existing in the lungs ; and we may observe 

 "a similar arrangement in the pancreas and other conglomerate 

 " glands. 



"These lobules are clothed with an investing membrane 

 " of their own, and are joined together by membranous ties 

 " carried across from one to the other, so that only very small 

 " intermediate spaces or clefts appear between the sides of the 

 " lobules which are so adapted to each other that no interruption 

 " between them either great or small arises, the size, position 

 " and adaptation of the cones being changed as required. We 

 " have shewn the same thing more clearly in the lungs. It is 

 " to be observed however, that the outline of the lobules is not 



" the same in all animals, but varies within very wide limits. 



***** 



" The glandular acini of which each lobule is composed, 

 "since they have a special circumscription, possess an outline 

 "of their own, which is for the most part hexagonal or poly- 

 "gonal. Hence they necessarily are joined to each other by 

 " special membranous ties in addition to the vascular branches ; 

 " and certain interstices occur between them which are quite 

 " conspicuous in fishes and other lower animals, but are obscure 

 " in the higher animals. 



" To each of these lobules, even to the very small ones, as 

 " may actually be observed or inferred from a variety of facts, 

 "are carried numerous branches of vessels. For the divisions 

 " of the vena cava, of the vena porta?, and of the bile-duct 

 "ramify continuously throughout the whole mass of the liver, 

 " as Glisson, in that work of his on the liver which cannot be 

 "too highly praised, has very clearly shewn. In the lobules 

 " which constitute the outside surface of the liver, the blood 

 " vessel, spreading out from a centre ramifies in all directions 

 " over the whole periphery, sending forth bifurcating branches 

 " by which the whole lobule is irrigated. And the same can 

 " (not) be doubted concerning the deeper parts. For although 

 "the actual eye of sense cannot, especially in the higher 

 " animals, reach the extreme ends of the vessels which open 

 " on to the glandular acini, yet we may follow them adequately 

 " with the eye of reason. For the whole mass of the liver is 



