298 SECRETION. 



of Bernard, both in experiments made for purposes of inves- 

 tigation and in public demonstrations, that we can entertain 

 no doubt with regard to the glycogenic function of the liver. 

 We have, however, made some late observations, which have 

 modified our views concerning the mechanism of glycogene- 

 sis ; but the fact of the production of sugar in the healthy 

 organism is not affected. Notwithstanding that it seems 

 so easy to verify these experiments, there is, particularly in 

 Great Britain, a pretty wide-spread conviction, that the liver 

 does not produce sugar during life, and that the sugar found 

 by Bernard and others is due to post-mortem action. This 

 view is based chiefly on the observations of Dr. Pavy, of 

 Guy's Hospital ; but it has been adopted by some authori- 

 ties in Germany and in France. In this state of the ques- 

 tion, it will not be sufficient to detail merely the experi- 

 ments that seem to demonstrate the glycogenic function, 

 but it will be necessary to examine these observations 

 critically, and compare them with experiments which lead, 

 apparently, to opposite conclusions ; for it is but fair to 

 admit that the observations of Pavy seem to be as accu- 

 rate, and, at the first blush, as conclusive as those of 

 Bernard. 



The experiments of Bernard were published for the first 

 time in 1848, 1 but were afterward much extended, and pub- 

 lished as a thesis, in 1853." The most accessible account 

 of the original experiments is in the first volume of his 

 published lectures, delivered at the College of France, in 

 1854-'55. 8 In addition, many of the volumes of lectures 

 published from time to time by Bernard contain new obser- 



1 BERNARD, De Vorigine du sucre dans V economic animale. Archives generates 

 de medecine, Paris, 1848, 4me serie, tome xviii., p. 303, et seq. 



2 BERNARD, Recherches sur une nouvelle fonction du foie, consider e comme 

 organe producteur de matiere sucree chez Fhomme et les animaux. These presentee d 

 la Faculte des Sciences de Paris pour obtenir le grade de Docteur es Sciences Naiu- 

 relles, Paris, 1853. 



8 BERNARD, Lecons de physiologie experimentale. Cours du semestre tfhiver, 

 1854-'55, Paris, 1855. 



