XVI. On the ultimate arrangement of the biliary ducts, and on some other points in the anatomy of the liver of vertebrate animals

Abstract

In his valuable paper published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1833, Mr. Kiernan describes and figures the anastomoses between branches of the duct in the left triangular ligament of the human liver. He also refers to communications existing between the ducts in other situations, as in the membranous bridge stretch­ing over the fissure for the umbilical vein, and upon the inferior surface of the diaphragm. In the same paper, this author gives a diagram of the manner in which he supposed the ducts to terminate in the lobules of the liver, and subjoins the fol­lowing remarks :—“ No such view of the ducts as that represented in this figure can be obtained in the liver. The interlobular ducts are in the figure seen anastomosing with each other. I have never seen these anastomoses, but I have seen the anastomoses of the ducts in the left lateral ligament, and from the results of experiments related in this paper, I believe the interlobular ducts anastomose ; I have never injected the lobular biliary plexus to the extent represented in this figure.” Since the appearance of this important communication, the subject has been much investigated both in this country and on the continent; but as far as I can ascertain, no observer has yet succeeded in demonstrating the manner in which the ducts terminate, or has been able to show conclusively the precise relation which the hepatic cells bear to the biliary ducts. Various hypothetical views have been offered.