156 



NORMAL HISTOLOGY. 



are separated by septa of fibrous tissue, the interlobular vessels 

 lying in the lines formed by the junction of three such septa. 



Connecting the branches of the portal vein with the hepatic vein 

 is a plexus of capillaries, called the intralobular vessels, through 

 which the blood passes from the portal vessels to the radicles of the 

 hepatic vein and thence into the general circulation. These intra- 

 lobular vessels also receive blood from the hepatic artery, the 

 capillaries from which join them at a little distance from the 

 periphery of the lobule. The radicles of the hepatic vein are 

 called the central veins, from their situation in the axes of the 

 lobules, which are conceived as having a somewhat cylindrical 

 shape (Fig. 134). 



Vessels and bile-ducts of a lobule of a rabbit's liver in transverse section. (Cadiat.) a, cen- 

 tral vein : b, b, interlobular veins (branches of the portal vein) ; c, interlobular bile-duct, 

 receiving capillary bile ducts from the lobule. Between a and b is the capillary plexus 

 caned the intralobular vessels. The biliary radicles are not represented throughout the 

 figure, and the branches of the hepatic artery have been wholly omitted. 



Between the interlobular capillaries are rows of epithelial cells, 

 which constitute the functional part of the liver, its parenchyma. 

 They appear to touch the walls of the capillaries, but are, in reality, 

 separated from them by a narrow lymph-space (Fig. 135). In the 



