LIVER

large vascular gland, of 2 reddish brown color, situated in the upper right part of the cavity of the abdomen, behind the ribs, the largest gland in the human body, weighing about 3 tb. The upper and anterior surface is in contact with the diaphragm and the anterior abdominal wall, while the lower and posterior surface, to which the gall bladder is bound down by peritoneum, is divided into several lobes by fi ures, and is in contact with the stomach, duodenum, colon, right kidney and suprarenal body, and other néighboring structures, and is grooved by the eesophagus and vena cava. In regard to its minute structure, the 1. is composed of a great number of lobules of distinctive polygonal hepatic cells, and the portal vein divides into minute branches which again ramify round each lobule, from which other venous capillaries run to a central vein in the middle of the lobule, which joins other similar veins, becomes the hepatic vein, and eventually enters the venacaba. The functions of the 1. include the breaking down of worn-out blood corpuscles, and the secretion and excretion of bile, which is a digestive fluid acting on fats and making them more easily absorbed, while thel. is also a greab storehouse of nutriment for the body, i carbohydrates and proteids absorbed after a meal in a soluble form in the blood being held up in liver-cells in the form of glycogen, which is set loose when the body requires it.