32 - THE LIVER, BY EWALD HERING. 



trabeculas that, in capillary meshes from which the hepatic cells 

 have been removed, sometimes appear stretching from one capillary 

 to another, and are expanded at their points of attachment. Henle 

 and Kolliker substantiate these facts, though Kolliker is inclined to 

 regard them as capillaries in process of development or of retrograde 

 metamorphosis. According to this observer also, in addition to con- 

 nective-tissue corpuscles, there is an extremely small quantity of amor- 

 phous connective tissue. E. Wagner* first pointed out the presence of 

 connective-tissue corpuscles within the lobules, and his statements have 

 been corroborated by Engel-Keimers,f Kolliker, and Forster.J Henle, 

 on the other hand, disputes the presence of the connective-tissue cor- 

 puscles, but considers that all the capillaries are accompanied by fibres 

 of connective tissue, which are sufficiently thick when seen in section 

 to present the appearance of dark granules. These differences in 

 opinion are due to some extent to the circumstance that observers 

 have not always stated whether the central or the peripheric portion 

 of the lobule has been subjected to examination, whether the liver 

 from which it was taken was healthy or diseased, and whether the 

 subject was young or old. The frequently fusiform cells of the liver 

 may also, in some instances, have been mistaken for the corpuscles of 

 connective tissue. 



The liver of Man exhibits such great variations in regard to its 

 deep connective tissue, that, unless an extensive series of exami- 

 nations are undertaken, it is very difficult to say what are really 

 the natural relations. In adult Dogs the normal relations are 

 as follows : The fibrillar interlobular connective tissue sends 

 only a few thin and but feebly striated fasciculi into the outer- 

 most layers of the lobules. These cords immediately break 

 up into fine completely homogeneous trabeculse, which, on the 

 removal of the hepatic cells, appear to extend tightly stretched 

 from one capillary to another. Such homogeneous trabeculse 

 are frequently also found in other parts of the lobule, ex- 

 tended across the capillary meshes. Sometimes such a trabecula 

 simply passes from one capillary to another; sometimes it 

 divides in its course, and is attached by a forked extremity to 

 one of the capillaries ; and sometimes several trabeculse spring 



* Oestreichische Zeitschrift jur praktische Heilkunde, 29 Marz, 1861. 



"t Expl. micr. de tel. hepat. conjunct. Berol., 1860. 



J Kolliker, Handbuch der Cfewebelehre, 5th Edition, p. 438. 



