Dr. Pavy on the alleged Sugar-forming Function of the Liver. 143 



which would check the transformation of the sugar-forming material 

 after death, and thus present the hver in a condition as near as pos- 

 sible to that which existed during life. Potash was found to possess 

 this effect without destroying the principles concerned. A strong 

 solution of it was then injected, as instantly after death as practicable, 

 through the portal vein into the liver ; and, as the result, the organ 

 presented scarcely any appreciable trace of the presence of sugar. A 

 liver similarly treated when it had been allowed to remain a short 

 period after death, gave the usual strong reaction of sugar that has 

 been hitherto noticed. By injecting only a part of the organ with 

 the alkali, it is most strikingly susceptible of demonstration, that 

 the presence of sugar is in reality due to a post mortem occurrence, 

 and can therefore be no longer looked upon as a representation of 

 the natural ante mortem condition. 



The sudden abstraction of heat from the liver instantly after 

 death, leads to a similar arrest of the production of sugar, and thus 

 enables us likewise to represent the real condition of the organ 

 belonging to life. In one of the experiments mentioned, where a 

 dog was sacrificed, and a piece of the liver instantly sliced off and 

 thrown into a freezing mixture of ice and salt, the absence of sugar 

 was almost complete ; the amount at least was so small, that it was 

 found impossible to arrive at a quantitative determination with a 

 concentrated spirituous extract, notwithstanding the process is sus- 

 ceptible of so great a delicacy. The portion of the liver which was 

 not submitted to the action of cold, and which was allowed to remain 

 a short time in the animal, yielded on analysis an indication of 2-96 

 per cent, of sugar. 



Division of the spinal cord in the lower part of the cervical region, 

 the effects of which have been noticed by Bernard, but differently 

 interpreted, leads to a corroboration of the deductions drawn from 

 the preceding experiments. When the weather is cold or moderate, 

 the operation is followed by a gradual reduction of temperature; and 

 if the animal be sacrificed when its body has cooled down to about 

 70°, the liver is found free from sugar, upon an ordinary immediate 

 examination, because at such a degree the post mortem transforma- 

 tion is not effected with sufficient rapidity to lead to our deception. 

 Placed aside, however, it soon becomes strongly saccharine. Should 

 the operation of division of the cord be performed, and the 

 temperature of the animal be afterwards maintained at about the 

 ordinary height by exposure to external warmth, then the liver is 

 as strongly saccharine upon ordinary examination after death, as if 

 the animal had been taken and simply sacrificed. 



By oiling the coats of rabbits and exposing them to cold, the 

 temperature of the body falls, and precisely the same phenomena 

 are noticed as after division of the cord. 



With frogs in a vigorous condition, the presence or absence of 

 sugar in the liver submitted to the ordinary process of examination 

 after death, is dependent upon the temperature of the animal at the 

 time of the destruction of life. This fact was independently noticed 

 by myself about the time that it was mentioned by Bernard in a 



