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What does the word liver mean?

• Hepar, jecur; the largest gland of the body, lying beneath the diaphragm in the right hypochondrium and upper part of the epigastrium; it is of irregular shape and weighs from 3 to 3 1/ 2 pounds, or about 1/ 40 the weight of the body. It secretes the bile and is also of great importance in both carbohydrate and proteid metabolism.

• Largest glandular organ of the body, its work being the secretion of bile.

• The liver is the largest gland in the body. It is an azygous organ; unsymmetrical; very heavy; and of a brownish-red colour; occupying the whole of the right hypochondrium, and a part of the epigastrium. Above, it corresponds to the diaphragm; below, to the stomach, transverse colon, and right kidney; behind, to the vertebral column, aorta, and vena cava; and before, to the base of the chest. Its upper surface is convex; the lower, irregularly convex and concave, so that anatomists have divided the organ into three lobes, -a large or right or colic lobe; - a lesser lobe, lobule, or inferior lobe, the Lobulus Spigelii, -and a middle or left lobe. At its inferior surface, are observed: - l. A Sulcus or Furrow or Fissure, called horizontal or longitudinal or great fissure, Fossa Umbilicalis, ( F.) Sillon horizontal, longitudinal ou de la veine ombilicale, Sulcus antero-posterior Jecoris seu horizontalis Jecoris seu longitudinalis Jecoris seu sinister Jecoris seu Umbilicalis, which lodges, in the foetus, the umbilical vein and ductus venosus. 2. The Principal Fissure, termed Sulcus Transpersus, Fossa transversa, Transverse fossa, Sinua Portarum, Porta, P. seu Manus Jecoris seu Hepatis Fossa or Fissure of the Vena porta, Portal Fissure or Fossa, ( F.) Sillon transversal ou de la veine porte, which receives the sinus of the vena porta. 3. The Fissure of the Vena Cava inferior, Sillon de la veine cave inferieure, situate at the posterior margin of the organ, and lodging the vena cava inferior. 4. The Lobulus Spigelii, or posterior portal eminence. 5. The anterior portal eminence, Auriga seu Lobulus anonymus, 6. Depressions corresponding to the upper surface of the stomach, gall-bladder, arch of the colon, right kidney, etc. Continued from the fossa umbilicalis is a small fossa, called Fossa Ductus Venosi, between the left lobe and Lobulus Spigelii. The posterior margin of the liver is very thick; much more so than the anterior. The liver is surrounded by a serous or peritoneal covering, which forms for it a suspensory or broad ligament and two lateral and triangular ligaments. See Falx. The blood-vessels of the liver are very numerous. The hepatic artery and vena porta furnish it with the blood necessary for its nutrition and the secretion of bile. The hepatic veins convey away the blood, which has served those purposes. The lymphatic vessels are very numerous; some being superficial; others deep-seated. The nerves are, also, numerous, and proceed from the pneumogastric, diaphragmatic, and from the hepatic plexuses. The intimate structure of the parenchyma of the liver has been well studied. When cut, it presents a porous appearance, owing to the division of a multitude of small vessels. When torn, it seems formed of granulations;- the intimate structure of which has given rise to many hypotheses. In these granulations are contained the radicles of the excretory ducts of the bile; the union of which constitutes the hepatic duct. According to Mr. Kiernan, the intimate structure consists of a number of lobules- hepatic lobules, hepatic islets- composed of intralobular or hepatic veins, which convey the blood back that has been inservient to the secretion of bile. The interlobular plexus of veins is formed by branches of the vena porta, which contain both the blood of the vena porta and of the hepatic artery; both of which, according to Mr. Kiernan, furnish the pabulum of the biliary secretion. The biliary ducts form likewise an interlobular plexus, having an arrangement similar to that of the interlobular veins. Mr. Kiernan's views are embraced by many anatomists; but are denied by some. The liver is the only organ, which, independently of the red blood carried to it by the hepatic artery, receives black blood by the vena porta. The general opinion is, that the vena porta is the fluid which furnishes bile, whilst that of the artery affords blood for the nutrition of the liver. It is probable, however, that bile is secreted from the blood of the latter vessel. Besides bile the liver forms sugar, and is a great assimilating organ. The liver is liable to a number of diseases. The principal are- Hepatitis or inflammation, cancer, biliary calculi, encysted and other tumours or tubercles, hydatids, etc.; and it has, at times, been the fashion to refer to it as the cause of symptoms with which it is no wise connected.

• [ Latin] An organ in the abdomen beneath the right half of the diaphragm, occupying the right hypochondriac and stretching into the epigastric and left hypochondriac regions. It is held in place by 5 ligaments, the Longitudinal( broad, falciform, or suspensory), Right and Left lateral, and Coronary, composed of peritoneum, and the Round ligament( ligamentum teres), a fibrous cord attaching it to the umbilicus. It has 5 lobes, the Right and Left lobe, Lobus quadratu, Lobus Spigelii, and Lobus caudatus, separated by 5 fissures, the Transverse( or portal), the Longitudinal, and the Fissures for the gall-bladder, vena canva, and ductus venosus. The l. consists of a stroma of connective tissue continued from Glisson’s capsule and forming septa enclosing the parenchyma or lobules. Each lobule contains a meshwork of capillaries enclosing radially disposed rows of cells( Hepatic cells), and converging to form a central intralobular vein which empties into a sublobular vein at the base of the lobule. The capillaries start from the interlobular veins which surround the lobules and which originate from branches of the portal vein. The sublobular veins run into the hepatic vein, which finally joins the inferior vena cava. The interlobular septa formed by the stroma contain the sublobular and interlobular vessel and the radicles of the bile-ducts, which terminate at the surface of the hepatic lobules, and communicate with minute interspaces( Bile-capillaries) between the hepatic cells. The interlobular bile-ducts unite to form the hepatic duct. The l. secretes bile, which is discharged into the duodenum either directly or after being stored up in the gall-bladder; and from the maltose received in the portal blood during the digestion of carbohydrates it manufactures glycogen, which is stored up in the liver-cells and is converted as fast as required into glucose, which passes into the hepatic vein. The l. also probably converts leucine, glycocine, and other nitrogenous substances which accumulate in the alimentary canal into urea. Hobnail l., Gin-drinker’s l., see Cirrhosis. Nutmeg l., a l. which, from long continued passive congestion( especially in cardiac disease), looks, when cut, like a nutmeg, i. e., shows light-colored circles or festoons interwoven with dark parches.

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