GLUCOSE. 289 



Physiological Relations. 



Occurrence. In a normal condition of the system this form of 

 sugar may always be recognised in the primce vice, especially in the 

 contents of the small intestine after the use of vegetable, that is to 

 say, of amylaceous and saccharine food. We shall subsequently see, 

 when treating of digestion, that it is principally through the influence 

 of the pancreatic juice that starch is gradually converted, in the in- 

 testinal canal, into sugar. It is only in small quantity that it exists 

 in the contents of the small intestine, partly because the change 

 effected in the starch proceeds very gradually, and partly because 

 the sugar which is formed is very rapidly absorbed. 



Trommer* was the first who detected traces of sugar in the 

 chyle; I have several times most distinctly recognised the pre- 

 sence of sugar in the chyle of horses which., a few hours before they 

 were killed, had taken either pure starch or strongly amylaceous 

 food. 



Sugar cannot generally be recognised in the blood; Magendief 

 however, asserts that he found considerable quantities of sugar, 

 together with dextrin, in the blood of a dog, which for several days 

 had been fed solely on boiled potatoes. 



In a normal state it is probable that no sugar finds its way into 

 the urine ; at least after living for two days solely on fat and sugar, 

 I was as unsuccessful in the search for sugar in my urine, as 

 Magendie had been in the case of the dog in whose blood he found 

 sugar. 



It is only seldom that we meet with saccharine urine in other 

 diseases than diabetes. Prout has sometimes found sugar in the 

 urine of a gouty and dyspeptic persons," and BudgeJ in " abdo- 

 minal affections and hypochondriasis,." I once met with sugar 

 in the urine of a puerperal woman, in whom, on the fifth day after 

 delivery, the secretion of milk was suddenly suspended. I was 

 led to the discovery that it contained sugar by observing the forma- 

 tion of yeast-cells in it ; the sugar only continued in the urine of 

 this woman for four days. 



Although I have myself || once found sugar in the saliva, in a 

 case of acute rheumatism, in which spontaneous salivation ensued, 



* Ann. d. Ch. u. Pharm. Bd. 39, S. 360. 

 t Compt. rend. T. 30, p. 191-192. 

 S Arch. f. physiol. Heilk. Bd. 3, S. 413. 

 Jaliresb. d. physiol. Ch. 1544, S. 2?. 

 I) Ibid. S. 20. 



U 



