1198 



THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. 



STRUCTURE OF THE LIVER. 



The liver is invested by an outer tunica serosa described in connexion with the 

 peritoneum. Within this is a thin capsula fibrosa [Glissonii] (O.T. Glisson's capsule) 



Intralobular capillary plexus 



Intralobular s 

 capillary plexus <>% 



Central vein 



Sublobular vein 



FIG. 940. LIVER OF A PIG INJECTED FROM THE HEPATIC VEIN BY T. A. CARTER. (From a specimen 

 presented to the Anatomical Department of Edinburgh University by Sir William Turner.) 



Liver lobules 



of delicate fibrous tissue, which is most evident where the serous coat is absent. In 

 the neighbourhood of the porta hepatis it is particularly abundant, and here it surrounds 



the vessels entering the porta, and 

 accompanies them through the portal 

 canals in the liver substance. This 

 coat is continuous with the fine areolar 

 tissue which pervades the liver, sur- 

 rounding its lobules and holding them 

 together. 



The liver substance proper is made 

 up of an enormous number of small 

 lobules ^-th to T \th inch (1 to 2 mm.) 

 in diameter, closely packed, and held 

 together by a small amount of con- 

 nective tissue. In man the lobules are 

 not completely separated from one 

 another all round their circumference, 

 but coalesce in places ; the reverse is 

 the case in certain animals such as the 

 camel and the pig. The lobules are 

 arranged around the branches of the 

 hepatic veins, to form the compact mass 

 of the liver, in the following manner : 

 The hepatic veins radiate from the 

 inferior vena cava, at the posterior 

 surface of the liver, to all parts of the 

 organ, dividing and re-dividing until 

 A, Arrangement of liver lobules around the sublobular the vessels are reduced to branches of 

 branches of the hepatic vein ; B, Section of a portal a very small size, known as sublobular 

 canal, showing its contained branches of the portal vein, yging _ the whole arrangement may be 

 hepatic artery, and bile-duct, surrounded by a pro- , compared SO far to the branching 

 longation of Glisson s fibrous capsule. P * ^ ^ . ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 



there open into these sublobular veins numerous closely crowded vessels the venae centrales 

 (O.T. intralobular veins) (which, following our simile, may be compared to an enormous 



Vena cava 



Hepatic 

 cells' 



ibrous 

 capsule 



Bile-duct 



FIG. 941. DIAGRAMS ILLUSTRATING THE STRUCTURE 

 OF THE LIVER. 



