This is, under all circumstances, a very important affection. It occurs both in a primary and in a secondary form, and may in either lead to obliteration or suppuration, and may attack the trunk and the ramifications of the vessel, or the latter only.

Inflammation ending in obliteration of the branches of the vena portae within the liver demands a special notice, as it occurs very frequently, although we rarely have opportunities of investigating it in the dead subject otherwise than in its termination and its consequences. It would appear to be owing to an anomalous condition of the portal blood, and to belong to the adhesive form. Several cases that we have observed, in which irregular anastomoses were discovered between the portal and the general venous system, by means of the patulous umbilical vein, seem to authorize this view.

Under certain indented and contracted parts of the surface of the liver, we discover an accumulation of cellulo-fibrous callous tissue, which, onmore minute examination, is found to conduct to a larger or smaller portal branch, with which it is connected. The vessel itself is converted into a ligamentous cord, or it is plugged up with a fibrinous, cheesy, or calcareous deposit.

The consequences of the obliteration are, atrophy of that part of the liver which is supplied by the ramifications of the vessel, lobulation of the liver, as described at page 103, and in extreme cases, ascites.