THE LIVER. Ill 



[Briich, ' Beitrage zur Anatomie und Physiologie des 

 Diinndarm-Schleimhaut/ Siebold and Kolliker's ' Zeitschrift/ 

 1853 ; also three most important papers by Briicke, ' Ueber die 

 Aufsaugung des Chylus/ Sitzungsberichte d. Wiener Akad. 

 Dec. 1852. ' Ueber den Ursprung und den Verlauf der Chy- 

 lusgefasse/ ibid. January, 1853, and • Ueber die Chylusgefasse 

 und die Fortbewegung des Chylus/ ibid., March, 1853, which 

 have come into our hands too late for further reference. — Eds.] 



OF THE LIVER. 

 § 158. 



The liver, a large gland, is at once distinguished from those 

 compound glands, such as the salivary, which have hitherto 

 been described, by the intimate connexion of its larger sub- 

 divisions and by the very peculiar structure of its secreting 

 parenchyma, which elaborates the bile. The component parts 

 are, the secreting parenchyma, consisting of the lobules or islets 

 of the liver and of the networks of hepatic cells ; the biliary 

 passages which are formed in this and the efferent biliary 

 ducts; very numerous blood-vessels ; a considerable number of 

 lymphatics and nerves; and finally, a peritoneal investment. 



§ 159. 



Secreting parenchyma, hepatic lobes and hepatic substance. 

 — If the surface or a section of the liver be regarded, 

 it generally exhibits a mottled appearance, which is usually 

 of such a kind, that small, stellate, reddish or brown spots are 

 enclosed within a more yellowish-red substance — medullary 

 and cortical substance (Ferrein). This variegation proceeds 

 from the usually unequal distribution of the blood in the 

 smallest trunks and in the capillaries, and in healthy persons it is 

 replaced by a uniform reddish-brown colour. The mottling of 

 the surface of the liver is frequently so regular as to have given 

 rise to the supposition that it consists of lobes, especially as in 

 an animal which is a frequent subject of investigation, — the 

 Pig, — they are very obvious ; but, as E. H. Weber was the first 

 to demonstrate, in 1842, in the human liver nothing of the 

 kind exists ; here, in fact, not only the secreting elements, but 

 the most important parts of the vascular system, i. e. the capil- 

 lary network between the portal and hepatic veins are intimately 



