STRUCTURE OF THE LIVER. 



257 



FIG. 88. 



Lobu.Ii 



portal vein, or into the capillary plexus of the lobules which 

 connects the inter- and mfralobular veins. 



The hepatic duct divides and subdivides in a manner very 

 like that of the portal vein and 

 hepatic artery, the larger branches 

 being lined by cylindrical, and the 

 smaller by small polygonal epi- 

 thelium. The exact arrangement 

 of its terminal branches, however, 

 and their relation to the liver-cells 

 have not been clearly made out, or, 

 at least, have not been agreed upon 

 by different observers. The chief 

 theories on the subject are three in 

 number: 



1. That the terminal branches 



of the hepatic duct form an inter- Loin 

 lobular network, which abuts on 

 the outermost cells of a lobule, but 

 does not enter the inside of the lob- 

 ule, or only for a little way. 



2. That minute branches begin on the sublobular veins (after K ier- 

 in the lobules between the cells, not na n). 



inclosing them. 



3. That the ultimate branches begin in the lobules and in- 

 close hepatic cells. 



FIG. 89. 



Diagram showing the manner in 

 which the lobules of the liver rest 



Capillary network of the lobules of the rabbit's liver (from Kolliker) 4 T 5 . The 

 figure is taken from a very successful injection of the hepatic veins, made by Hart- 

 ing: it shows nearly the whole of two lobules, and parts of three others; p, portal 

 branches running in the interlobular spaces; h, hepatic veins penetrating and radi- 

 ating from the centre of the lobules. 



