182 Chittenden and Lambert— Post-mortem Formation 
the liver, only the merest trace was to be found in the blood of the 
hepatic vein, indicating thereby a decomposition of peptone in its 
passage through the liver. 
Maydl* claims that since the products of the decomposition of all 
forms of glycogen are the same, it follows that the glycogens them- 
selves are all identical, and since it is extremely improbable that the 
various carbohydrates with their different chemical constitutions 
should give one glycogen, he argues that it all must come from 
one source, viz: albumin. 
This is not the place, however, to discuss the relative merits of 
the dehydration and storage theories, it is enough simply to under- 
stand that the possible origin of liver sugar in proteid matter is one 
which would make clear many hitherto unexplained points. The 
great obstacle, has been to understand where and in what manner 
the liver sugar could be so formed. Seegen’s views therefore are of 
great importance, and are, moreover, in no sense, wholly inconsistent 
with previous ideas, but the question at once suggests itself whether 
the analytical data on which they are founded are sufficient to war- 
rant their adoption. 
The determination of sugar in organic fluids is not without diffi- 
culty, and where slight variations in results may cause differences of 
half a per cent. or more, it becomes an extremely delicate matter to 
determine how far such results shall be trusted. Consequently, what- 
ever may be said as to whether the formation of sugar in the manner ~ 
indicated by Seegen is a natural or an artificial process, we need first 
of all to know positively whether the liver under any circumstances 
is able to form sugar or other carbohydrate matter from peptones. 
This all hinges on the accuracy of Seegen’s results, obtained by warm- 
ing portions of liver with peptones. If an increase of sugar and total 
carbohydrates is found in the presence of peptone, then we must con- 
clude that the latter has at least some influence on the formation of 
the liver sugar. Recent experimentst have plainly shown that neutral 
peptone has a stimulating influence on the amylolytic action of 
ptyalin of saliva and diastase of malt ; both of these ferments convert 
more starch into sugar in the presence of peptone than without and it 
is natural to suppose that the presence of peptone would similarly 
affect the amylolytic ferment which presumably acts upon glycogen. 
Seegen’s results, however, appear to show that while sugar is increased 
* Zeitschrift fiir physiol. Chem., vol. iii, p. 196. Ueber die Abstammung des 
Glykogens. 
+ Trans. Conn. Acad., vol. vi, p. 343, vol. vii, p. 44. 
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