150 . ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 



Five ligaments of the liver hold it in place attaching it to the 

 diaphragm and abdominal wall the round, the broad, the coronary, 

 and two lateral. 



The round ligament is a cord (the remains of the umbilical vein) 

 inclosed in the broad, which, with the lateral and coronary, is of 

 peritoneum. It is the broad ligament which connects the superior 

 surface of the liver with the diaphragm and is therefore called the 

 suspensory ligament. It also marks off the right from the left 

 lobe on that surface. The principal support of the liver is by 

 its connection with the diaphragm. 



The liver secretes a yellow alkaline fluid called bile which is 

 conveyed through the porta by two ducts, the right hepatic and 

 left hepatic; these unite to form one, the hepatic duct proper, 

 which is soon joined by the cystic duct from the gall-bladder. 



The gall-bladder occupies a fissure on the inferior surface of 

 the liver. It is a pear-shaped sac three or four inches long, of 

 fibrous tissue and muscle fibers lined with mucous membrane and 

 partially covered with peritoneum. It contains a variable quan- 

 tity of bile (or "gall") in reserve. The only opening of the 

 gall-bladder is for the cystic duct, which joins the hepatic to form 

 the common bile-duct, or ductus communis choledochus (Figs. 

 109, 112). 



Bile, as it flows from the gall-bladder, is a thick or viscid 

 yellow fluid having sometimes a brown tinge, or it may be greenish. 

 It is formed as a thin fluid in the cells of the hepatic lobules, 

 from materials brought in the portal vein (which enters the liver 

 at the porta). (See page 148.) 



Its characteristic elements are bile salts, bile pigment, and 

 cholesterol a substance which is soluble only in normal bile. 

 Any of these may be found in gall-stones; this is especially true 

 of cholesterol. 



Bile is discharged from the liver by the right and left hepatic 

 ducts, thence into the hepatic duct proper, and the common bile 

 duel or ductus communis choledochus, as already stated. 



Note. The production of bile is continuous; its flow into the 

 intestine is intermittent. It appears in the duodenum only during 

 the process of digestion; in the interval it is stored in the gall- 

 bladder. 



Notes. The cystic duct is about i 1/2 inches long; the hepatic 



