326 THE ADRENAL, GENERAL MOTOR, AND VAGAL SYSTEMS. 



supply the ccecum with bactericidal cells and their products: i.e., 

 phagocytic leucocytes and alexocytes in addition to those supplied 

 by the ccecal agminated follicles and antitoxic blood-serum. 



In the colon, the asepticizing process is fulfilled by a rich sup- 

 ply (1) of Lieberkiihn's crypts, which keep its walls bathed with 

 their muco-serous secretions; and (2) of irregularly scattered 

 solitary lymph-follicles, which supply the latter secretion with 

 bactericidal cells and their alexins. 



The nervous supply of the intestines is derived from the gen- 

 eral motor system (ex-sympathetic nerves) and from the vagal sys- 

 tem, the distribution to the various intestinal coats being similar to 

 that of the branches of the same system in the stomach. The vagal 

 system probably alone excites and regulates intestinal functions 

 during digestion as well as during intervals, 



THE LIVER AND ITS PHYSICO-CPIEMICAL FUNCTIONS. 

 There is considerable evidence available to show that oxidation 

 is one of the most active factors of hepatic functions, and yet 

 it must be admitted that, according to prevailing views, there 

 is no blood-supply capable of accounting for this powerful 

 source of energy. To the portal vein, essentially a channel 

 for physiologically impotent blood, i.e., blood replete with the 

 waste-products of four important organs and the oxygen of 

 which has been utilized in these organs, is ascribed this pre- 

 ponderating role. On the other hand, the hepatic artery is 

 thought to supply the liver "with the blood of nutrition." Text- 

 books on physiology, therefore, seldom refer to this vessel; 

 works on histology hardly grant it more than two or three 

 lines, if they refer to it at all. In text-books on anatomy it 

 receives more attention, but only in its general topographical 

 bearing. 



As viewed from our standpoint, the hepatic artery does not 

 only supply the liver with its nutritional blood, but simultaneously 

 with the blood upon which all its functions depend. 



To develop this proposition a review of the histology of 

 the lobule is necessary. Clarkson 10 gives the following com- 

 plete, though succinct, description of this wonderful little body 



10 Clarkson: "Text-book of Histology," 1896. 



