GLAWDS. 1 31 



quantity of minute pale granules, which Sehiff* 

 regards as a species of animal starch (PL XXII. fig. 

 IV. 1). The other cells, much smaller (^th of a 

 line) and less numerous, have a regular polygonal 

 form, and finely granular contents, generally free from 

 fat (fig. IV. 2). In the interlobular spaces, which in 

 the hog's liver are very 'distinct, we find minute 

 branches of the venae portee (interlobular veins), by 

 which the lobules between which they are situated 

 are supplied with blood (PL XXII. fig. I. 2, 3). If 

 we examine closely the relations between the inter- 

 lobular veins and a single lobule, we find them form- 

 ing around it a vascular network, from the concavity 

 of which a multitude of minute ramusculi take their 

 origin, which penetrate the substance of the lobule, 

 and immediately break up into capillaries (fig. I. 4 ; 

 fig. II. 2). They anastomose freely with each other, 

 and thus form a network with very close meshes 

 (^oth of a line), which empties, finally, at the centre 

 of the lobule, into a minute veinule, which is a radi- 

 cle of the sub-lobular hepatic vein (fig. III. 2). In 

 man, the lobules not being clearly limited in their 

 outlines, the vascular circle thus formed by the penul- 

 timate branches of the portal vein is not readily dis- 

 tinguished, but the capillary network in their interior 

 has the same appearance and arrangement as that 

 described (fig. IL). 



The large hepatic cells, usually connected to each 

 other in pairs, fill up the meshes of the capillary 

 plexus of the lobule, and in their aggregate mas& con- 



* Professor of Physiology in the University of Zurich. (Ed.) 



