liver (1)

[Eng. live, v.; -er.] 1. One who lives; one who has life. "In a great pool, a swan's nest: Prithee, think There's livers out of Britain." Shakesp.: Cymbeline , iii. 4. 2. One who resides or dwells; a resident, a dweller. "Why was not I a liver in the woods, Or citizen of Thetis' crystal floods." Drummond: Sonnets , pt. i., son. 25. 3. One who lives or spends his life in a particular manner. "A virtuous household though exceeding poor, l'ure livers were they all, austere and grave. Words worth: Excursion, br. ii. three minor lobes on the under surface. The liver consists of lobules, a connecting structure, Gli on's capsule, ramifications of the portal vein, hepatic duct, hepatic artery and veins, lymphatics, and nerves, and is inclosed and kept in situ by the peritoneum. The functions of the liver are twofold: The separation of impurities from the venous blood of the chylo-poietic viscera previously to its return to the general venous circulation, and the secretion of bile, the fluid nece ary to chylification; thence it pa es into the duodenum and the gall bladder by means of the ducts of the liver, after mingling with the mucous secretion from the follicles in the duct walls. 2. Compar .: In the lower animals there is apparently no liver; in those somewhat higher the rudiments of it appear, and it develops markedly the higher we ascend in the scale of animal life. Thus, in the Echinoderm at a it has been identified with two or more small glandular sacs of a yellowish color opening into the bottom of the stomach. The liver in Mollusks is always large. In the Cephalopod a it is a bulky gland divided into four lobes,and these are again subdivided into numerous angular lobules. In the Vertebrates it yet more nearly approaches the liver of man. In many fishes, the cells of the liver are loaded with fat, that which is a morbid state of the organ with man being normal with them. IMG:content-0645.png:[blocks in formation] A. As subst.: The color of the liver; a reddish. brown, or dull brown mingled with a little yellow. B. As adj .: Liver-colored.