DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. 



minute lobules which surround the branches of the hepatic 

 veins and are connected by areolar tissue. [1121] 



Gall Bladder and Bile Passages. The hepatic duct is about 

 an inch long and begins in the portal fissure, by the union of the 

 right and left chief ducts from the liver; it descends to join the 

 cystic duct just outside the fissure, forming the common bile 

 duct. The cystic duct is smaller but slightly longer and runs 

 from the neck of the gall bladder. The common bile duct de- 

 scends in the lesser omentum, in front of the foramen of Win- 

 slow, with the portal vein behind and hepatic artery to the 

 left; it then continues behind the first part of the duodenum 

 to meet the pancreatic duct between the pancreas and duo- 

 denum. The two ducts run together, pierce the inner wall of 

 the descending duodenum obliquely, and open by a common 

 orifice on the bile papilla, three or four inches below the py- 

 lorus. [1118] 



The gall bladder is a pyriform reservoir lying in its fossa, 

 under the liver. Its wide end (fundus) usually reaches the 

 edge of the liver and is in contact with the abdominal wall 

 at the outer border of the right Rectus. Its body ends in 

 a constricted neck which curves inward toward the portal 

 fissure and ends in the cystic duct. Peritoneum covers it 

 in front and laterally, forming its outer coat; it has a middle 

 coat of fibrous and muscular tissue, and an inner mucous 

 coat. [1118] 



Pancreas. This is a soft glandular mass which stretches 

 transversely on the posterior abdominal wall between the duo- 

 denum and spleen. The head, or right end, is hook-like, large 

 and flattened, and lies in the curve of the duodenum upon the 

 vena cava and aorta; the lower part (uncinate process) de- 

 scends to the left and is separated from the neck by a deep 

 notch (incisura pancreatis) for the superior mesenteric ves- 

 sels; peritoneum covers it anteriorly except above and to the 

 right, under the transverse colon. The neck is comparatively 

 narrow, lies on the portal vein, and joins the head to the body ; 

 15 [ 225 ] 



