CHAP. XXXIII.] COMPOSITION OF THE LIVER. 461 



The following is an analysis by Prof. Beale of a liver, presumed 

 to be healthy. The organ was taken from the body of a man 

 thirty-one years of age, who was killed by falling from a second- 

 floor window/ while in the enjoyment of perfect health. 



Per 100 of 

 Solid Matter. 



Water . >- ' ,.- " . > - .. .'."'. 68'58 

 Solid matter .. 4 . , *. '- .. 31-42 



Fatty matter '.: '. r v .'. " 3'82 12-16 



Albumen .- ,-. ' . \ ..*; J-. 4'67 14*86 



Extractive matter . * .- . .. ,* 5-40 17-18 



Alkaline salts . . , . 1-17 372 



Vessels, etc., insoluble in water . . 16'03 51-01 



Earthy salts . ;" . . . . '33 1'05 



100-00 



In disease, the proportion of these constituents is liable to very 

 great variation. In fatty degeneration, an enormous amount of 

 fatty matter may accumulate in the organ. In one remarkable 

 case, analysed by Dr. Beale, the liver contained 75-07 per cent, of 

 solid matter, and of this 65*19 consisted of fatty matter."* In scro- 

 fulous degeneration of the liver, the albuminous materials and the 

 water are increased, while the fatty matter is diminished in quantity. 



The liver is situated in the right hypochondrium, and reaches 

 over to the left, being thick and indented behind where it crosses 

 the projecting bodies of the vertebrse, convex on its upper surface, 

 where it lies in the hollow of the diaphragm, and concave below, 

 where it rests against the stomach, colon, and right kidney. It is 

 covered to a great extent by the peritoneum, the reflexions of 

 which on to neighbouring parts, serve as ligaments to bind it in 

 place, as well as to allow of the entrance and exit of the nerves 

 and vessels, some of the latter being sufficiently large and strong 

 to aid materially in the mechanical support of the organ. 



The liver is an unsymmetrical organ. In the foetus, it is situated 

 more equally on each side of the median line of the trunk ; but in 

 the adult the sight side enormously preponderates, by the wasting 

 or want of development of the left. It is still, however, divisible 

 into a right and left lobe by the broad peritoneal ligament above, 

 and by the longitudinal fissure beneath, both of these commencing 

 in front by a notch in the border, across which passes, between the 

 layers of the broad ligament, the cord-like remnant of the umbilical 



* Diseases of the Liver. Dr. Budd. Second edition, 1852. 



