412 



THE HUMAN BODY 



middle line above the pyloric end of the stomach. It is of dark 

 reddish-brown color, and of a soft friable texture. A deep fissure 

 incompletely divides the organ into right and left lobes, of which 



TT 



Dch 



FIG. 133. The under surface of the liver, d, right, and s, left lobe; Vh, hepatic 

 vein; Vp, portal vein; Vc, vena cava inferior; Dch, common bile-duct; DC, cystic 

 duct; Dh, hepatic duct; Vf, gall-bladder. 



the right is much the larger; on its under surface (Fig. 133) shal- 

 lower grooves mark off several minor lobes. Its upper surface is 

 smooth and convex. The vessels carrying blood to the liver are 

 the portal vein, Vp, and the hepatic artery; both enter it at a fissure 

 (the portal fissure) on its under side, and there also a duct passes 

 out from each half of the organ. The ducts unite to form the 

 hepatic duct, Dh, which meets at an acute angle, the cystic duct, DC, 

 proceeding from the gall-bladder, Vf, a pear-shaped sac in which 

 the bile, or gall, formed by the liver, accumulates when food is not 

 being digested in the intestine. The common bile-duct, Dch, formed 

 by the union of the hepatic and cystic ducts, opens into the duode- 

 num. The blood which enters the liver by the portal vein and 

 hepatic artery passes out by the hepatic veins, Vh, which leave the 

 posterior border of the organ close to the vertebral column, and 

 there open into the inferior vena cava just before it passes up 

 through the diaphragm. 



The Structure of the Liver. On closely examining the surface 

 of the liver, it will be seen to be marked out into small angular 



