THE ABDOMEN, INTERIOR. 491 



The anterior border is thin and sharp, and is notched 

 at the umbilical fissure. To the right of this notch is the 

 fundus of the gall bladder. If distended it will project 

 beyond the liver border. 



The gall bladder (Figs. 104, 105) is a membranous sac 

 situated in the fissure of that name, used as a reservoir for 

 the bile. Its duct is the cystic duct which unites with the 

 hepatic to form the common bile duct. (For the course of 

 the latter see Gastrohepatic Omentum.) 



It must be remembered that in living, healthy people the 

 relations of the abdominal organs to each other and to the 

 surface of the body varies from time to time with respira- 

 tion, position of the body and fullness of the stomach, and 

 that in disease the variations are innumerable. Conse- 

 quently, all measurements are only relative, and true for 

 the subject and at that particular time. However, if our 

 measurements are not exactly correct they serve to give us 

 standards from which to note variations. Hence, the need 

 that every student should investigate for himself the rela- 

 tions of the subject he is at work upon, without reference 

 to the text-book figures ; later he should make the compari- 

 son between his data and that in the text-books. 



The Surface Area of Liver Projection. Figs. 96, 98, 108, 

 109. The upper border of the liver is represented by a line, 

 beginning two and one-half inches at the left of the median 

 line on a level with the sixth left sternochondral articulation, 

 and drawn slightly downward to cross the sternum at the 

 sternoxiphoid articulation, then toward the right, curved 

 slightly upward, to reach a point one inch below the right 

 nipple ; from here the line is carried directly around the 

 chest to end at the eighth dorsal vertebra. 



The lower liver border is traced by an oblique line start- 

 ing at the left over the eighth costal cartilage (a very indefi- 



