CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 175 



due to the use of these descriptions of aliment. Experiments per- 

 formed by Dr. Charles Bernard prove, however, that sugar is found in 

 the blood in all alimentary regimens, and even after long abstinence, and 

 that the origin of this sugar in animals fed on meat alone, or subjected to 

 long abstinence, must be in the liver. In this organ it becomes mixed 

 with the blood, and is carried by the vena cava inferior and the supra- 

 hepatic veins to the right side of the heart, where it is constantly found. 

 An examination of sugar produced from the blood or liver proves that 

 it is neither cane-sugar nor sugar of milk, but it presents all the chem- 

 ical characters of grape-sugar or glucose. 



But how is the sugar thus found produced? Does it result directly 

 from a peculiar transformation of certain elements of the liver, or is it 

 derived from external alimentary substances deposited or accumulated 

 in this organ ? As it might be said that animals fed on meat, or kept 

 fasting, had, prior to the experiments, partaken of food which supplied 

 the sugar in question, examination of the blood and liver was made in 

 those which had been so kept for ten days, and yet the sugar was 

 found ; while, on the other hand, this was quite absent in other animals 

 which had been fed on saccharine articles of food, and in which the 

 pneumogastric nerves on both sides were divided. The quantity of 

 sugar found in the liver and blood of different animals varies. Dr. Ber- 

 nard's observations, however, allow him to affirm, that in birds (fowls 

 and pigeons) the proportion is very considerable, as it is also in mam- 

 malia (dogs, rabbits, pigs, oxen, horses, &c.) In reptiles (frogs and 

 lizards) it is very slight, while in fishes no traces are found, thus indi- 

 cating that the absence of sugar in cold-blooded animals depends upon 

 the inferior energy of their respiratory functions. 



THE COMPOSITION OF HONEY. 



IT has long been known that the honey of the bee contains two 

 different sugars, one of which is solid, and the other liquid. The for- 

 mer is considered as identical with the granular sugar, which is slow- 

 ly deposited from the syrup of raisin-sugar, or in that of cane-sugar 

 altered by acids. As to the liquid part of the honey, it has been but 

 little studied, though M. Biot has stated that it is a sugar which turns 

 the rays of polarized light to the left. M. Soubeiran has been en- 

 gaged in making some investigations into the composition of honey, 

 and, after detailing his experiments, arrives at the following results. 

 Honey is composed of a mixture of three different sugars; one is the 

 granular sugar ; another the liquid sugar, which resembles in many 

 particulars cane-sugar altered by acids, but is distinguished from it in 

 possessing a much stronger rotary power towards the left. The 

 liquid sugar of honey retains its rotary power towards the left even 

 after it has been rendered solid; it is one of the few substances which 

 possess this character. The third sugar which constitutes part of 

 honey is distinguished from granular sugar in being unalterable by 

 acids, and from liquid sugar in rotating towards the right. Its pro- 

 portion is considerable in honey from the comb, but diminishes by 

 keeping, and even entirely ceases to exist in solidified honey. Z/'/n- 

 stitut. 



