6 THE LIVER, BY EWALD BERING. 



so that their intralobular vein reaches nearer to the surface. 

 (Kiernan). 



The mass of an hepatic lobule consists essentially of two ele- 

 ments, the hepatic cells and the capillaries. The intralobular 

 vein appears in the form of a short trunk that gives off in all 

 directions branches running nearly at right angles, whilst at its 

 upper extremity it breaks up into a brush of capillaries. The 

 capillaries thus given off from it throughout its whole extent, 

 dividing dichotomously, take the shortest course towards the 

 periphery, and therefore have a predominant radial direction. 



In consequence of the frequency of the dichotomous division 

 it follows that these radial capillaries, as I may call them, are 

 as closely arranged in the peripheral as in the central parts of 

 the lobules ; and whilst their diameter when moderately filled 

 with injection amounts to about O'Ol of a millimeter, they are 

 only separated by an interval of about 0*015 of a millimeter. 

 Moreover, as the radial capillaries communicate freely with each 

 other by short transverse anastomosing branches, a very close 

 network is formed, with elongated meshes, the longer diameter 

 of which has a radial direction, whilst the shorter diameter 

 corresponds to the distance between two radial capillaries. 

 It is only at the periphery of the lobules, where these pass 

 without any line of demarcation into the adjoining ones, that 

 shorter and rounder meshes make their appearance in place 

 of the others. 



Every space left between the vessels of the capillary plexus 

 that traverses the whole lobule is filled by the hepatic cells. 

 These constitute small soft spheroids, which, subjected to some 

 pressure, lie between the adjoining capillaries, filling the inter- 

 vening space so completely that they become mutually flattened, 

 and are grooved by the capillaries with which they are in 

 contact. Or we may regard the closely compressed polyhedric 

 hepatic cells as collectively constituting a solid mass which is 

 traversed by the numerous meshes of the capillary plexus. 



From what has been stated above, it follows that in thin 

 sections the appearances presented by the internal structure 

 of the lobules vary considerably, in accordance with the 

 direction in which the section is made. The radial arrange- 

 ment of the capillaries, as well as the elongated form of their 



