146 SECRETORY ORGANS. [BOOK I. 



upon such further particulars as are connected with 

 the subject of digestion, as influencing or being 

 influenced by respiration and circulation, we have 

 already spoken pretty much at large ; see Index. 



The liver with its sweetbread, and the kidneys, 

 being liable to certain diseases peculiar to each, 

 besides the property of readily affecting one another 

 by reason of their contiguity, as well as their joint 

 function of refining the blood, next claim our un- 

 divided attention. We will, therefore, proceed at 

 once to a brief description of the uses and functions 

 of each, and accompany the same with a few re- 

 marks on the present received mode of treating the 

 disorders that impede those functions, reserving 

 particulars regarding the causes, symptoms, and 

 method of cure, to a subsequent part of the volume. 

 Consult the Index ; and read over again section £\. 

 page 124. 



52. The liver is a very important and immensely 

 large glandular body of a dusky red colour, al- 

 most divided, like the lungs, into two lobes, each 

 having two smaller subdivisions ; and is attended by 

 its pancreas or sweetbread, a small flat part thereof, 

 which has the property of secreting a sweet kind 

 of saliva. This secretion was noticed before, as 

 entering the gut near the stomach, along with the 

 bile from the liver : both are, therefore, conveniently 

 situated underneath the stomach and behind the 

 midriff, to the skirt of which the upper part of the 

 liver is attached ; but the exact functions of this 

 pancreas, or its diseases, are no farther known to 



