1906.] Liver Ceils to the Blood-vessels and Lymphatics. 



475 



when the bile duct is obstructed. Nauwerck stated that in cases of 

 obstructive jaundice in man the post-mortem examination of the liver gives 

 no foundation for the view that the bile passes directly into the lymphatics, 

 but that all appearances support the view that the bile passes through the 

 liver cells by a network of fine channels and escapes directly into the lobular 

 blood-vessels. 



Nearly all the authors above quoted agree in describing the existence of 

 lymphatic spaces encircling the intra-lobular blood capillaries. Hering 

 is the strong opponent of this view, and he was supported to some extent by 

 Kolliker. Most of its advocates have relied on the results of injection of the 

 lymphatics with watery solutions of Prussian blue, asphalt dissolved in 

 chloroform, or alcannin in turpentine oil. These fluids have been described 

 as making their way along clefts or spaces between blood-vessels and liver cells 

 throughout the lobule. The readiness with which injection material passes 

 from ruptured lymphatics into the blood-vessels has been generally admitted, 

 but its full extent cannot be appreciated when the blood-vessels are injected 

 subsequently with material of another colour, and this method of procedure 

 has been adopted by nearly all workers on the subject. Biesiadecki 

 acknowledged that in the human livers he investigated the injection material 

 found its way into blood-vessels and clefts equally. Had he injected the 

 blood-vessels with another material this important fact would have been 

 disguised, and the typical appearance described by MacGillavry and others 

 would have been obtained. Budge recognised this difficulty, and stated that 

 the first injection employed has a tendency to adhere to the vessel walls, but 

 he believed that a double injection of a blood-vessel could be distinguished 

 from the separate injection of blood-vessel and lymphatic by the sharp defini- 

 tion which exists in the latter case between the two. He described the outlines 

 of the lymphatic injections as smooth and sharp. Budge employed asphalt in 

 chloroform to inject the lymphatics. We made use of a similar solution to 

 inject the blood-vessels, but found it most unsatisfactory. The chloroform 

 evaporates or diffuses away and leaves the asphalt adhering to the vessel 

 walls. It also alters the character of the liver cells and causes shiinkage of 

 the tissues with which it comes into contact, and another great disadvantage in 

 its use is its lack of colour when seen in thin sections. In dealing with the 

 question whether fine clefts exist between blood-vessels and liver cells the 

 injection material used must be such as can be detected in the thinnest of 

 sections, and asphalt does not admit of this. The forcing of chloroform into 

 a tissue is, besides, not unlikely to produce artificial clefts by the shrinkage 

 which it induces, and these clefts will be accentuated by subsequent fixation 

 and hardening. 



