ABDOMINAL CAVITY 443 



left lobe, and note that before the posterior border is reached 

 the fingers are carried up to the diaphragm by a triangular 

 fold of peritoneum, the left triangular ligament (see Fig. 200). 



Examine the lower border of the anterior surface, note 

 that it is cleft at the lower margin of the attachment of the 

 falciform ligament by a notch, the umbilical notch. Through 

 this, between the right and left lobes, the ligamentum teres, 

 which lies in the rounded lower margin of the falciform 

 ligament, passes into the umbilical fossa on the lower surface 

 of the liver. Further to the right, in or near to the right 

 lateral plane and opposite the tip of the ninth right costal 

 cartilage, the fundus of the gall-bladder projects below the 

 liver in the majority of cases. 



Raise the lower margin of the liver and examine the 

 lower surface. It looks downwards, backwards, and to the 

 left, and over the whole of its extent it is in contact with 

 other viscera ; on this account it is frequently called the 

 visceral surface. It conceals the upper and right portion of 

 the anterior surface of the stomach, the first and the upper 

 part of the second portion of the duodenum, the lesser 

 omentum, the greater part of the gall-bladder ; to the right 

 of the gall-bladder it is in relation, posteriorly, with a large 

 portion of the anterior surface of the right kidney, and, 

 more anteriorly, with the right colic flexure (see Fig. 169). 

 It is divided into right and left portions by a fossa, the 

 umbilical fossa, which contains the ligamentum teres. This 

 fossa extends from the umbilical notch in the lower border 

 of the anterior surface to the junction of the inferior and 

 posterior surfaces, where it becomes continuous with the 

 fossa for the ductus venosus. Trace the lesser omentum 

 upwards to the lower surface of the liver, and note that it is 

 attached to the margin of a fissure which extends from the 

 neck or uppermost part of the gall-bladder on the right to 

 the umbilical fossa on the left ; this is the porta hepatis or 

 transverse fissure. It lies at the junction of the inferior with 

 the posterior surface. Note, further, that the upper border of 

 the lesser omentum is continued upwards on the posterior 

 surface of the liver, where it is attached to the margins of 

 the fossa for the ductus venosus. 



The posterior surface, which is largely in relation with the 

 diaphragm, cannot be conveniently examined at present (see 

 Fig. 200). 



