Soft specimen sketched with lobes drawn apart.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 340.—LIVER OF DOG, VISCERAL SURFACE; HARDENED _in situ_.
Left central lobe, gall-bladder, and great part of right central lobe
not visible.
]
When hardened _in situ_ (with the stomach full), the gland presents the
following characters:
The visceral surface is marked by a somewhat oblique ridge
(corresponding to the lesser curvature of the stomach), which separates
two deep cavities. The depression to the left of the ridge is occupied
by the body and fundus of the stomach. The depression on the right is
smaller, and is occupied by the pyloric part of the stomach, the origin
of the duodenum, and the right branch of the pancreas. The gall-bladder
is not visible.
When the stomach is empty and contracted, the visceral surface of the
liver is strikingly different. There is then a shallow impression for
the left part of the stomach on the left lobe, and a large convex
area, related to the small intestine and a mass of omentum. The
pyloric and duodenal impressions are not much changed. The
gall-bladder is visible.
The portal fissure is very deep and might well be termed a fossa. It is
bounded on the right (externally) by the caudate process, on the left
(internally) by the papillary process or lobe, which is directed
ventrally. The hepatic artery enters at the dorsal end and the portal
vein centrally, while the bile-duct leaves at the ventral part. The left
central lobe is not visible, and the right central one is largely
concealed.
The parietal surface is extremely convex, being adapted to the diaphragm
and the adjacent part of the ventral wall of the abdomen. On it all the
lobes except the papillary are completely or partially visible. The
gall-bladder is visible in the fissure between the quadrate and chief
portions of the right central lobe.
The dorsal border presents a renal impression on its right portion. The
posterior vena cava passes downward and forward at first in a deep
groove on the caudate lobe, then largely embedded in the parietal
surface of the right lateral lobe; it receives two large hepatic veins
just before piercing the diaphragm.
The œsophageal notch is large, and is occupied on the right by the thick
margin of the hiatus œsophageus. The left border is opposite to the
ninth and tenth ribs; it is thin and is marked by numerous indentations.
The caudate process extends usually a little beyond the last right rib,
between the right kidney and the right branch of the pancreas. The
ventral border lies on the ventral abdominal wall a variable distance
behind the xiphoid cartilage.
[Illustration: