THE VISCERA. 217 



c. The Borders. 1. The anterior border is thin, sharp, oblique from below 

 upwards, and directed from right to left; it presents to the left a deep in- 

 cision, incisura interlobularis, where lig. teres ( V. umbilicalis~) lies; farther to the 

 right a notch, at which point the fundus ve$ic& fellece is seen; it projects under 

 the cartilages of the seventh to the tenth ribs into the epigastrium', 



2. The posterior border is short and obtuse, rounded, attached to the dia- 

 phragm, being connected by uniting tissue ; to it the lig. coronar. hepatis attaches 

 itself from the diaphragm above and underneath. To the left a deeper notch, 

 for Ven. cava. infer. ; to the right, for ductus venosus JLrantii. The right ex- 

 tremity of the liver is smooth, rounded, massive (with lig. triangular, dexter.') 

 the left extremity terminates in an angular or obtuse process (with lig. triangul. 

 sinisirum'). 



Structure. The proper substance (Parenchyma) of the liver is reddish or 

 yellow ; in other persons, darker (of a clouded colour, between olive green 

 and chamois) ; close and lacerable. It divides into lobes, lobules, and gland 

 granules, acini; these are accumulations of closed, yellow, nucleated cells, two 

 to three lines long, half a line thick. The acini are seated like vine leaves 

 upon pedicles, which are ramifications of the vena hepatica, which spreads 

 itself out in their axis like the veins of a leaf. The surface of the acini is 

 surrounded by a capillary network of the most delicate branches of vena 

 pwt<, which are in connection with ven. hepatica. From the blood of the 

 ven. porttK the elements of the bile pass, probably, into the closed nucleated 

 cells; but the connection of these with the biliary passages (ducts) has hitherto 

 remained unexplained. The ducts are best considered, with Henle, as in- 

 tercellular passages, which at first appear between the acini. The lobes and 

 lobules are connected by uniting tissue, which enters in from the surface. 

 The particular elements of the liver are: 



Membranes: 1. The serous covering (Peritonceum) of the liver covers it as 

 far as that part of the posterior border which is attached to the diaphragm, 

 and to the floor of the grooves. From it the following folds pass off: lig. 

 coronarium and suspensorium, lig. hepatico-gastricum, duodenak, and renale. 



2. A fibrous investment covers the entire liver; is connected on its exter- 

 nal surface with the serous coat; in the interior, with the parenchyma. It 

 shows itself most distinctly in the porta, where it forms sheaths for the 

 vessels, that is, Capsula Glissonii, and cells for the lobes and lobules, since 

 prolongations extend from it into the interior of the organ. 



Vessels: 1. Vena portce forms a trunk in the Porta, from which, after the 

 manner of arteries, right and left branches pass off, which ramify through all 

 parts of the interior of the liver, dividing at acute angles, but not dichoto- 

 mously, in a transverse direction, and are surrounded by sheaths of the 

 Capsula Glissonii. Its capillary rete surrounds the acini, and passes over into 

 the commencement of the hepatic veins. 



2. Art. hepatica, a (small) branch of art. cceliaca, passes with the portal vein 

 and the biliary canals. Its capillary rete spreads out upon the parietes of the 

 vessels and biliary ducts almost exclusively, and unites with the rete of the 

 portal vein. 



3. Venae hepatica, which arise in all points of the liver as Venula centrales, 

 pass (in opposite directions from the lobes 1, 2, and 4) backwards towards 

 Ven. cava infer., to which they convey the blood from the portal vein, and 

 from Art. hepatica. (They are without sheaths, and therefore remain patent 

 when divided transversely.) 



4. The biliary passages, ductus biliferi, are narrow canals, which terminate 

 in a cul-de sac (?), spreading, like the branches of a tree, through the liver, 



