488 



ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATES. 



A longitudinal section of a sub-lobular vein. 



CLVll". 



vessels in the portal fissure called ' Glisson's capsule.' The serous 

 accompanies and closely adheres to the fibrous coat, save at the 

 portal fissure and along the suspensory and other folds, called 



( ligaments,' where the serous coat 

 is reflected from the gland. The 

 resolution of the lobes and lo- 

 bules of the liver into the ultimate 

 subdivisions or * acini,' is natu- 

 rally shown in Capromys : as a 

 rule they require section or ma- 

 ceration. 



As the anatomist l to whom 

 we are indebted for a knowledge 

 of their structure has applied to 

 these ' acini ' the term usually 

 given to such secondary divisions 

 as the ' lobulus Spigelii,' and has 

 founded his nomenclature thereon, it will be retained. Kiernan's 

 ' lobules ' range in size from ¥ ^th to T yth inch in diameter, pre- 

 sent a foliated contour in lon- 

 gitudinal section, fig. 371, I, 3, 

 a polygonal one in transverse, 

 fig. 378 : a venule issuing from 

 their centre, fig. 371, 5 and 7, 

 connects them with the initial 

 or 6 sublobular ' branches of 

 the hepatic vein (laid open in 

 fig. 371): the rest of their 

 surface is attached by similar 

 beginnings of hepatic ducts 

 and absorbents, by terminal 

 branches of the hepatic artery 

 and portal vein, and by nerves, 

 to the thin stratum of areolar 

 tissue connecting one lobule 

 with others. Each is composed 

 of ramifications of its suspen- 

 sory * intralobular ' venule, of 

 arterial capillaries, of a plexus 

 of portal capillaries, a plexus 

 of biliary passages, of nerves, 

 lymphatics, and intermediate cell-substance — the essential part of 

 the gland which the other structures subserve. The section mag- 



Branches of the portal vein, Human, cxlvj 



