AND FUNCTION OF THE LIVER. 
9 
the feeble grade of respiratory action, settles down as a deposit in these two parts, 
where accumulation of the blood and retardation of its current, one or both, 
frequently and almost naturally occur. In a Common Snake {Coluber natrix) I 
found the parenchyma consisting of abundant soft granulous and oily matter, with 
granular nuclei, faintly formed granular globules and cells; the latter were small, 
not numerous, and might easily have been overlooked. There were no pigmentary 
globules in this liver, but in one part of the parenchyma there was a deposit of bile 
tinging the granular matter, so that that part contrasted manifestly with the surround- 
ing : there was also everywhere a considerable quantity ot concrete solid fatty matter, 
sometimes of coarse crystalline aspect. The ducts in this instance were well seen 
ramifying on the coats of the vessels ; many of them exhibited their tube of limitary 
membrane filled, and even apparently bulged by a soft granulous substance, which 
obscured the nuclei imbedded in it, and was mingled with a few minute oil-drops 
diffused through its mass. The most minute branches appeared to cease gradually, 
the basement membrane becoming at last indiscernible, and the structure then resem- 
bling a minute cylinder of granulous substance. Some of the larger ducts bad more 
transparent contents, in which here and there small vesicles were seen. 
In the Frog I have been able to examine the ducts very thoroughly ; the smallest 
ones are I think for the most part like those in the Snake, small cylinders of granulous 
substance imbedding nuclei, and not usually containing vesicles ; those of a somewhat 
larger size (but having I doubt not the same elaborating function) are usually full of 
pellucid contents, in which the outlines of exceedingly delicate vesicles, varying from 
TeVb^h to ^sVoth of an inch, are more or less plainly discernible. These vesicles 
should probably be termed cells, as on addition of nitric acid a number of nuclei are 
brought into view, which appear to be situate in tlieir interior. It is remarkable 
how the duct tubes are filled with the vesicular and granulous epithelium ; they have 
exactly the sanie appearance as their homologues in Fishes, and suggest the same 
ideas as to their function. In one frog the description now given exactly applied to 
the ducts of one lobe of the liver, while those of the other were in a very different 
state ; instead of having pellucid contents, they presented a thick epithelial lining of 
rather coarse granular matter containing nuclei, and stained deeply in various parts 
with biliary matter. The aspect of this epithelium conveyed to the mind the idea of 
arrested action ; it contrasted most forcibly with the delicate soft-looking granulous 
or pellucid epithelium of the ducts in the other part ; this had the aspect of material 
rapidly changing into the fluid secretion, that of a stiff inert mass, whose vital changes 
were well nigh suspended. Connecting with this altered condition of the epithelium 
the manifest biliary accumulation and retardation in the ducts, the above interpreta- 
tion will not appear I trust too fanciful. With the alteration in the condition of the 
ducts, there coexisted also a notable difference in that of the parenchyma; its cells 
were much more strongly formed, their nuclei and envelopes more apparent, their 
contents coarsely granular, and containing less oil than in the unaffected part. The 
MDCCCLIII. 
c 
