LIVER. 



[ 399 ] 



LIVER. 



Fig. 411. 



Magnified 35 diameters. 



Section of a portion of the liver of a rabbit, showing the entire course 

 of one of the intralobular veins, the roots only of the others. 



and elegant plexus between the branches of 

 the inter- and intralobular veins, the rest of 

 the lobules being filled up with the secreting 

 epithelium (fig. 412). 



Fig. 412. 



outer coat of areolar tissue, the 

 bundles of fibres of which are 

 difficultly separable, and an internal 

 epithelial layer. The areolar coat 

 is most distinct in the larger 

 branches, being almost absent in 

 the terminal interlobular ducts ; it 

 contains numerous nuclei and 

 nuclear fibres. The epithelium of 

 the larger ducts is cylindrical, that 

 of the smaller of the pavement 

 kind. In the hepatic duct, the 

 outer coat contains scattered mus- 

 cular fibre-cells. The ducts also 

 contain small mucus-glands. The 

 secreting cells of the lobules fill 

 up the interspaces between the 

 blood-vessels, forming a network 

 with radiating meshes. They are 

 very transparent, of a rounded or 

 polygonal form, about 1-1000" in 

 diameter, containing a nucleus or not unfre- 

 quently two nuclei, with a number of gra- 

 nules, and a few small globules of fat (fig. 163, 

 page 190). 



Fig. 413. 



Magnified 350 diameters. 



Secreting cells and capillaries of the liver of a pig. [The 

 spaces between the capillaries and the cells have been 

 left through error of the draughtsman.] 



The branches of the biliary ducts accom- 

 pany those of the vena portse as far as the 

 interlobular spaces, where they do not enter 

 the lobules, but terminate in caecal ex- 

 tremities. The biliary ducts consist of an 



Magnified 350 diameters. 



Secreting cells and terminal interlpbular ducts ; human, 

 a, ducts ; b, cells ; c, spaces occupied by blood-vessels. 



The division of the substance of the liver 

 into lobules is rather apparent than real, 

 being effected by the peculiar arrangement 

 of the vessels, the lobules having no true 

 coat or envelope. The areolar tissue which 

 accompanies the vena port* and its branches, 

 becomes less and less in quantity as the 

 branches become smaller, and is lost in the 

 interlobular spaces. It it much more abun- 

 dant in animals, as the pig, than in man, 



