The liver in the great
majority of animals is not provided with a 'gall-bladder'; but the
latter is present in some. The liver of a man is round-shaped, and
resembles the same organ in the ox. And, by the way, the absence above
referred to of a gall-bladder is at times met with in the practice
of augury. For instance, in a certain district of the Chalcidic
settlement in Euboea the sheep are devoid of gall-bladders; and in
Naxos nearly all the quadrupeds have one so large that foreigners when
they offer sacrifice with such victims are bewildered with fright,
under the impression that the phenomenon is not due to natural causes,
but bodes some mischief to the individual offerers of the sacrifice.
Again, the liver is attached to the great vein, but it has no
communication with the aorta; for the vein that goes off from the
great vein goes right through the liver, at a point where are the
so-called 'portals' of the liver. The spleen also is connected only
with the great vein, for a vein extends to the spleen off from it.
After these organs come the 'kidneys', and these are placed close
to the backbone, and resemble in character the same organ in kine.
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