Liver
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Liver. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the largest gland in the body, weighing about four pounds, and measuring in its greatest length nearly 12 inches. It is placed obliquely in the abdomen, on the right side, with its convex surface upward, and the concave downward. It is in relation as to its position with the diaphragm above, the stomach and intestines below, and the right kidney, sometimes extending almost over to the spleen on the left side. It corresponds by its free edge with the lower margin of the ribs. It is divided by fissures into five lobes, two on the upper surface, right and left lobes, and with them three minor lobes on the under surface. The liver consists of lobules, a connecting structure, Glisson's capsule, ramifications of the portal vein, hepatic duct, hepatic artery and veins, lymphatics, and nerves, and is inclosed and kept in situ by the peritoneum. The functions of the liver are twofold: The separation of impurities from the venous blood of the chylo-poietic viscera previously to its return to the general venous circulation, and the secretion of bile, the fluid necessary to chylification; thence it passes into the duodenum and the gall bladder by means of the ducts of the liver, after mingling with the mucous secretion from the follicles in the duct walls. ASHTON LIVERMORE, MARY (RICE), an American reformer and lecturer; born in Boston, Mass., Dec. 19, 1821. In 1862 she was appointed agent of the Northwestern branch of the United States Sanitary Commission. After the war she was conspicuous in her efforts to promote the woman suffrage and temperance movements. Among her popular lectures are: "What Shall We Do With Our Daughters?"; "The Moral Heroism of the Temperance Reform." She was the author of "Pen Pictures" (1865); "Thirty Years Too Late" (1878); etc. She died May 23, 1905. city of England,
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the gland that secretes bile. It is the largest gland in the human body, and weighs from three to four pounds. It is a flat, broad, soft organ situated below the diaphragm, and fitting into its arched surface. The bile, a thin, yellow-green, alkaline liquid, is secreted by the liver, and is conveyed to the gall bladder or into the small intestine direct when digestion is going on. The liver serves also as a store house for excess sugar. The liver is susceptible to irritation from the use of alcohol. Alcoholic stimulants sometimes cause a thickening of the walls that form the framework that carry the cells of the liver until the cells become so crowded that they cannot do their work and death ensues. In such cases an examination reveals a liver covered with small knobs, due to the hardening and contracting of the connective tissue. A liver in this condition is called a hobnailed or gin-drinker's liver.