THE LIVER. 



CATARRHAL OR INTERSTITIAL HEPATITIS. 

 BY DR. H. CHR. MULLER, NEW- YORK.* 



The epithelia of the liver have a reticular structure common to all "proto- 

 plasmic " bodies ; the granules, which are points of intersection of the reticu- 

 lum, are rather coarse in the liver epithelia of man, and in that of the cat, 

 but very fine in that of the rabbit. All epithelia are separated from each 

 other by light rims of cement-substance, traversed by delicate, conical fila- 

 ments, identical to those which connect the granules within the epithelia. 

 The presence of these formations readily explains a number of morbid proc- 

 esses, for it is only the living matter forming the reticulum and the connecting 

 threads in the cement-substance which is capable of growing, proliferating, 

 and of producing new elements and new tissues. These new formations may, 

 however, deviate considerably from the type of the original epithelia. The 



FIG. 305. CIRRHOSIS OF THE LIVER. 



L\ LI, lobules of the liver, considerably decreased in size, partly blending with the inter- 

 stitial connective tissue, without a marked boundary ; Ji, J*, interstitial tissue greatly aug- 

 mented, holding a moderate amount of blood-vessels. Magnified 200 diameters. 



bile-capillaries are excavations in the cement-substance, and are without 

 walls of their own. In transverse section the injected bile-capillaries appear 

 circular in the liver of the cat and oval in that of the rabbit. 



In interstitial hepatitis low powers of the microscope show a considerable 

 increase of the interlobular connective tissue at the expense of the lobules. 

 The vascular supply of this tissue varies greatly in different parts ; in some 

 places blood-vessels are numerous, while in others so scanty that even in 

 injected specimens large districts are almost without them. In localities 



* Extracted from the author's paper, "Beitrage zur Kenntniss der interstitielleu Leber- 

 entziiudung." Sitzuugsber. d. A-kademie d. Wisseusch. in Wieu, Bd. Ixxiii., 187P. 



