The Liver is the largest of all the digestive glands. It lies beneath the right cupola of the diaphragm and against the ribs on the right side of the body. Its function is to secrete the bile, which is carried to the duodenum by the bile-duct. On the bile-duct is a small diverticulum-the gall bladder- in which the bile is stored until required.

The liver lies mainly in the right hypochondrium, but the thin left side of it reaches as far as the left Poupart plane. Its lower border extends from the sixth costal cartilage on the left side to the tenth rib on the right side; it very often extends downwards a little lower on the right side. The upper limit, anteriorly, corresponds with the line of the diaphragm-i.e., the fifth intercostal space on the right, and the sixth costal cartilage on the left, with a depression in the middle. The mass of the liver is divided into right and left lobes by the falciform ligament, a fold of peritoneum connecting the liver with the anterior abdominal wall and diaphragm.

The liver has two surfaces - visceral and parietal. The Parietal surface lies above, against the diaphragm- anteriorly, against the abdominal wall, laterally, against the ribs, from which it is separated by the diaphragm, posteriorly, also against the diaphragm. The whole of the liver is covered by peritoneum except a small portion of the posterior surface known as the "uncovered area," which is in direct relation with the diaphragm.

Fig. 49. - The Liver.

The "uncovered area" is a small portion of the liver which lies between the two coronary ligaments, the folds of peritoneum passing from the liver to the abdominal wall. On the " uncovered area" is a small triangular impression made by the right suprarenal capsule, and to the left of this a deep groove into which fits the vena cava. To the left of the vena cava lies the Spigelian lobe, a small prominent portion of liver substance. To the left of the Spigelian lobe lies the groove for the oesophagus.