CHAPTEE X. 



PRODUCTION OF SUGAR IN THE LIVER. 



Evidences of a glycogenic function in the liver Processes for the determination 

 of sugar Fehling's test for sugar Examination of the blood of the portal 

 system for sugar Inosite Examination of the blood of the hepatic veins 

 for sugar Does the liver contain sugar during life ? Characteristics of 

 liver-sugar Mechanism of the production of sugar in the liver Glyco- 

 genic matter Process for the extraction of glycogenic matter Variations 

 in the glycogenic function Production of sugar in foetal life Influence of 

 digestion and of different kinds of food on glycogenesis Influence of the 

 nervous system, etc., on glycogenesis Artificial diabetes Influence of the 

 inhalation of anaesthetics and irritating vapors on glycogenesis Destina- 

 tion of sugar Alleged production of fat by the liver Changes in the 

 albuminoid and the corpuscular elements of the blood in their passage 

 through the liver. 



IT was formerly supposed that the chief and the only 

 important office of the liver was to produce bile, and all 

 physiological researches into the functions of this organ were 

 then directed to the question of the uses of the biliary secre- 

 tion ; but in 1848, it was announced by Bernard that he 

 had discovered in the liver a new and important function, 

 and he proceeded to show, by an ingeniously conceived 

 series of experiments, that the liver is constantly producing 

 sugar of the variety that had long been recognized in the 

 urine of persons suffering from diabetes mellitus. The great 

 physiological and pathological importance of the discovery, 

 attested, as it was, by experiments which seemed to be posi- 

 tively conclusive in their results, excited the most profound 

 scientific interest. During the present century, indeed, there 



