GLYCOGEN. 3 i 3 



milk sugar were administered ; the sugar in the urine at 

 once went up. A pure culture of saccharomyces apiculatus 

 was added to the urine, and fermentation allowed to 20 on. 

 After a few days' fermentation the sugar had all disappeared. 

 This fungus causes the alcoholic fermentation of glucose, 

 but not of lactose. Thus there was no lactose in the urine. 

 Voit gives the following explanation of what had occurred : 

 " Before the sugar was given the small amount of diabetic 

 sugar in the urine must have originated from proteid meta- 

 bolism. Lactose appears in the urine more readily than 

 any other form of sugar, though the doses given in this case 

 were not large enough to cause this result. Lactose readily 

 appears in the urine, not because it is burnt in the organism 

 with great difficulty, but because it is a form of sugar from 

 which it is not possible for the liver to make glycogen ; there- 

 fore its 'assimilation limit' is low and it passes unused into the 

 urine. In fact, in diabetics it appears to be more readily burnt 

 in the body than dextrose and takes the place of some of 

 the dextrose originating from proteid metabolism. Hence, 

 when lactose is given, a large quantity of dextrose remains 

 unburn t and passes as such into the urine." A further 

 research (3) carried out with galactose gave similar results. 



But we must now return to the other fundamental ques- 

 tion, namely, that concerning the fate of the hepatic glyco- 

 gen ; and in connection with this subject two important 

 papers have recently appeared. One is by Dr. D. Noel 

 Paton and the other by M. Bial. 



" L'acte vital c'est la production du glycogene au sein 

 du tissu vivant." 



" L'acte chimique, c'est la transformation du glycogene 

 en sucre." 



These two propositions give in Bernard's own words his 

 views in a nutshell ; and it is the second with which Dr. 

 Paton (4) is concerned, his object being to elucidate the mean- 

 ing ot the expression chimique. Is the conversion due to 

 an enzyme or unorganised ferment as held by Bernard, or 

 to the vital action of the liver protoplasm as suggested by 

 recent writers ? The liver was roughly minced and kept at 

 3J* to 40°C. in normal salt solution ; the glycogen was then 



