324 



THE HUMAN BODY. 



the diaphragm, into the concavity of which its upper sur- 

 face fits; it reaches across the middle line above the pyloric 

 end of the stomach. It is of dark reddish-brown color, 

 and of a soft friable texture. A deep fissure incompletely 

 divides the organ into right and left lobes, of which the right 

 is much the larger; on its under surface (Fig. 100) shallower 

 grooves mark off several minor lobes. Its upper surface 

 is smooth and convex. The vessels carrying blood to the 

 liver are the portal vein, Vp, and the hepatic artery; both 

 enter it at a fissure (the portal fissure) on its under side, and 

 there also a duct passes out from each half of the organ. 



Deb' Ve'Vp' 



FIG. 100. The under surface of the liver, d. right, and .?. left lobe: Vh. hepatic 

 vein; Vp, portal vein; Vc, vena cava inferior; Dch, common bile-duct; DC 

 cystic duct; Dh, hepatic duct; Vf, gall-bladder. 



The ducts unite to form ihehepatic duct, Dh, which meets at 

 an acute angle, the cystic duct, DC, proceeding from the 

 gall-bladder, Vf, a pear-shaped sac in which the bile, or gall, 

 formed by the liver, accumulates when food is not being di- 

 gested in the intestine. The common lile-duct, Dch, formed 

 by the union of the hepatic and cystic ducts, opens into 

 the duodenum. The blood which enters the liver by the 

 portal vein and hepatic artery passes out by the hepatic 

 veins, Vh, which leave the posterior border of the organ 



