GLYCOGEN. 3 i 7 



•7 



v5- 



Digestion of blood with peptone never leads to a 

 formation of sugar. This disposes of Lepine's (9) pepto- 

 saccharifying ferment. 



4. Arthus and Huber (10) have shown that sodium fluo- 

 ride in one per cent, solutions destroys cellular activity but 

 not unorganised ferments or enzymes. The formation of 

 sugar from glycogen is not prevented by a one per cent. 

 solution of sodium fluoride, and, therefore, it is produced 

 by an unorganised ferment. This is produced in the liver 

 cells, though whether the liver cells derive it from the 

 blood and lymph which bathe them is still unsettled. Cer- 

 tainly the liver ferment is very similar to that found in the 

 blood. Both produce dextrose, not maltose, as their end- 

 product. 



Now, if we compare these results with Noel Baton's we 

 find that they agree in regarding sugar as the result of the 

 disappearance of glycogen, that the sugar formed is dextrose, 

 and that an enzyme is present which brings about the con- 

 version of glycogen into dextrose. The main difference 

 between the two observers is that Paton considers the vital 

 action of the liver cells as more important than the chemi- 

 cal action of the ferment, while Bial supposes that the whole 

 conversion is accomplished by the ferment. The reason 

 for this difference appears to be that Bial, having found the 

 ferment, concluded that he need seek no farther. If he had 

 he would doubtless have discovered that the vital action of 

 the cells is to be reckoned with as well. 



The term " vital action " is one employed pretty largely 

 by physiologists now-a-days. It has not the mystic signifi- 

 cance it had in the days of the old vitalists from Stahl to 

 John Hunter. But it is a convenient term for those meta- 

 bolic or selective processes in living cells which cannot be 

 at present explained by ordinary chemical or physical laws. 

 A ferment is a chemical substance shed out by a living cell, 

 and the change produced by a ferment is usually a hydra- 

 tion or hydrolysis. Thus we have the formation of maltose 

 from starch by saliva, the formation of peptone from albu- 

 min, the fat-splitting action of the pancreatic juice, the in- 

 version of cane sugar, and many other examples that might 



