GLUCOSE. 293 



it will suffice if we here mention the following facts, which may 

 subsequently influence our judgment in reference to this matter. 



I* injected two drachms of cane-sugar dissolved in water into 

 the veins of a dog ; the dog, who had lost very little blood during 

 the operation, drank a great deal, and discharged a large quantity 

 of sweet-tasting urine, which contained unchanged cane-sugar; 

 and Kerstingf arrived at a similar result with other kinds of 

 sugar. BernardJ injected a solution of cane-sugar into the veins of a 

 dog and a rabbit; the urine of the animals remained acid, and con- 

 tained unchanged cane-sugar; but, on repeating the experiment on 

 another dog and rabbit with a solution of glucose, he failed to 

 detect this substance in the urine, which had now become alkaline. 



[The admirable experiments and observations of Dr. Percy on 

 this subject are apparently unknown to Professor Lehmarm. See 

 the "Medical Gazette," Vol. 32, pp. 19, 591, and 640. G.E.D,] 



If we were to attempt to draw any conclusion from these few 

 experiments, it would be that in diabetes the glucose formed 

 from the vegetable substances in the intestine is not, as in the 

 normal state, metamorphosed in the blood. We have been in the 

 habit of referring the alkaline reaction of the urine in graminivo- 

 rous animals to the decomposition of the salts formed by organic 

 acids and the alkalies into carbonates, but from Bernard's experi- 

 ment it would appear as if the alkalescence were dependent on 

 other relations connected with the nature of the vegetable food : 

 at all events I found that, when for two entire days I took nothing 

 but sugar, fat, and starch, and consequently food devoid of nitrogen 

 and free from alkalies, my urine had an extremely weak acid 

 reaction. 



More accurate investigations, or a more detailed account of his 

 mode of procedure are requisite, before we can form an opinion 

 regarding certain experiments performed by Bernard, or can 

 attempt to explain them on physiological grounds. He maintains 

 that he has found sugar in the urine and the blood after irritating 

 one definite spot in the base of the fourth ventricle of the brain. 

 This experiment, if it should receive further confirmation, will 

 apparently strengthen Scharlau's hypothesis that diabetes is essen- 

 tially a disease of the spinal cord, unless Bernard associates it with 



* Jahresber. d. phys. Ch. 1844. S. 47. 



t Diss. inaug. med. Lips. 1844. 



Compt. rend. T. 22, pp. 534-537. 



Ibid. T. 28, p. 393, and Arch. g6n. de Me'd. 4 Se'r. T. 18. 



