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Part VI. •2 54 . ANA T O M Y. an uniform long oval fignrc, like the vefioib. fcllis; fome- adults, in whom it appears only as a kind of ligament. times it is divided by Itrictures, into feveral fmall round- This fulcus is in fome meafure a continuation of the great i Ti bags more or lefs flatted, and fometimes it furrounds feiffure, and joins the vena cava by an acute angle. the trunk of the aorta like a collar. Befides thefe four depreffions, there is one on the It is compofed of very thin coats, and its cavity is di- fore-part of the great lobe, in which the vtficula felfis vided by fmall pellicuke or membranous fepta, the dif- is lodged; and it fometimes runs as far as the edge", pofltion of which is irregular. It is chiefly round the where it forms a fmall notch. We may likewile reckon lower part of this receptacle, that the laftJa&eal veffels among thefe depreffions, a fmall fuperficial cavity in the are inferted, feme on the fides, and fome behind the pofterior and lateral part of the lower fide of the great aorta; and {hey are accompanied by numerous lympha- lobe, by which it refts on the right kidney; and like.tic veffels. The upper portion is contracted between wife a fuperficial cavity in the left lobe, where it runs the aorta and vena azygos, and forms a particular ca- over the ftomach. nal, which runs up through the thorax, by the name of Laftly, on the pofterior edge of the liver, there is a duttus thoracicus. great finus common to both lobes, which gives paffage to the fpina dorfi and cefophagus, near the place where the vena cava defeends. HE PAR Sc VESICULA FELLIS. The convex fide of the liver is commonly conneffed to The liver is a large and pretty folid mafs, of a dark the diaphragm by three ligaments, which are only contired. colour, a little inclined to yellow, fituated immedi- nuations of the membranous lamina of the peritonaeum. ately under the arch of the diaphragm, partly in the One lies near the edge of the extremity of each lobe, right hypochondrium, which it fills almoft intirely, and and one in the middle, and they are accordingly termed partly in the epigaftrium, between the appendix enilfor- the right, middle, and left ligaments. There is a celm;s and fpina dorfi, and terminating commonly in the left lular fubftance in the duplicature of each, in which the hypochondrium. blood-veffcls and lymphatics run, and which fends off a The figure of the liver is irregular, it being arched or kind of lamina into the fubftance of the liver. convex on the upper part, unequally concave on the low- The right ligament fometimes conneds the great lobe er, and very thick on the right and back fides. Towards to the cartilages of the falfe ribs ; and the left ligathe left and anterior fides its thicknefs decreafes very ment, or that of the fmall lobe, is often double, and admuch', and terminates there by a kind of edge ; and it is vances toward the middle ligament. This middle ligabroader from right to left, than from before backwards. ment begins low, in the great fcifl’ure of the liver, near It may be divided into lateral parts called lobes; the eminences called porta;, and from thence paffes thro’ one jof which is termed the great or right lobe; the o- the anterior notch and over the convex fide of the liver ther, the fmall or left lobe. Thefe two lobes are di- at the union 'of the two lobes, and is fixed obliquely in ftinguifned above, by a membranous ligament; and be- the diaphragm. low very plainly, by a confiderable feiffure lying in the It is likewife fixed along the upper and inner part of the vagina of the right mufculus redus of the abdomen, fame direction with the fuperior ligament. The eminences on the concave fide of the liver belong in fuch an oblique manner as to be nearer the linea alba to the great lobe. The principal eminence is a fort of below than above. triangular or pyramidal apophyfis fituated backward near Befides thefe ligaments the great lobe of the liver is likewife conneded to the right ala of the tendinous porthe great feiffure which difiinguifhes the two lobes. This triangular eminence is termed lobulus Spigelii, tion of the diaphragm, not by a ligament, but by a or limply the fraall lobe of the liver. Qne of its angles broad and immediate adhefion, without the intervention advances a confiderable way toward the middle of the of the membrane of the peritonsum, which is only foldlower fide of the great lobe, and is loft there. Toward ed quite round this adhefion, to form the external memthe forefide, there is another eminence lefs prominent brane of all the reft, of the body of the liver. but broader; and to this eminence and the former, the The middle ligament, called improperly Ugamentnm ancients gave the general name of portx. hepatis fufpenforium, contains in its duplidature a thick The depreflions on the concave or lower fide of the white rope, like a round -ligament, which was the umliver are four in number. The firft is the feiffure that bilical vein in the foetus. Thus the lower part reprefents feparates the two lobes, which runs a-crofs the concave a falx, the. convex edge of which is ffiarp, and the other fide, from the eminences already mentioned, to the ante- rounded. rior edge, where it terminates by a notch of different All thefe ligaments ferve-to keep the liver in its proper depths in different fubjeCls. This is termed the great fituation, and to hinder it from inclining too much towards either fide : But vve muft not imagine that any of feiffure of the liver. The fecond depreflion is fituated tranfverfely between them ferve to fufpend it; becaufe it is fufficiently fupthe two eminences of the great lobe, and filled by the ported by the • ftcmach and inteftines, efpecialiy when finus of the vena portse. T he third depreflion is back- they are filled. ward, between'the great lobe and lobulus .Spigelii, and When the ftomach is empty, or when we faft longer the vena cava paffes through it. The fourth is a kind than ordinary, it is a common expreffion to fay the Jlo~ -of fulcus between the lobulus and fmall lobe of the liver, mach pinches us. As the liver is not then fuftained by -which in the foetus ferved to receive a venal canal loft in the ftomach and inteftines, it defeends by its own weight, .and
