PRODUCTION OF SUGAR IX THE LIVER. 299 



vations upon the glycogenic function ; ' and in the Journal 

 de la physiologic 1859, is an account of the formation of 

 sugar in the foetus, 2 followed by some reflections upon its 

 relations to the development of the tissues. 3 



In the account of the discovery given by Bernard, it 

 appears that he first sought for the situation in the body 

 where the sugar derived from alimentary substances is de- 

 stroyed. With this end in view, he fed a dog for seven days 

 with articles containing a large proportion of sugar and 

 starch. On analyzing the blood from the portal system, he 

 found a large proportion of sugar ; and he also found it in 

 the blood of the hepatic veins. As a counter-experiment, 

 he fed a dog for seven days exclusively on meat, and then 

 looked for sugar in the blood of the hepatic veins; and, 

 to his surprise, found it in abundance. This experiment 

 he repeated frequently with the greatest care, and always 

 with the same result; and he concluded that sugar was 

 formed in the liver, and was contained in the blood com- 

 ing from this organ independently of the diet of the ani- 

 mal. He afterward made extracts of the substance of the 

 liver and of the other tissues, and found that this organ 

 always contained sugar, while it was not to be detected in 

 any other organ or tissue in the economy. 4 In subsequent 

 experiments, it was demonstrated that the livers of nearly all 

 classes of animals contained sugar, and that it existed also in 

 the human subject. 5 He made observations, also, upon the 



1 BERNARD, Lemons sur les effets des substances toxiques et medicamenteuses, 

 Paris, 1857, p. 445, et seq. 



Leconssur la, physiologic et la pathologic du systeme nerveux, Paris, 1858, 



tome i., p. 397, et seq., and tome ii., p. 544, et seq. 



Lecons sur les proprittes physiologiques et les alterations palhologiques des 



liquidesde Vorganisme, Paris, 1859, tome ii., p. 88, et seq. 



3 BERNARD, Sur une nouvelle fonction du placenta. Journal de la physiologic, 

 Paris, 1859, tome ii., p. 31, et seq. 



3 Idem, p. 326, et seq. 



4 BERNARD, These, Paris, 1853, pp. 13, 14. 



5 BERNARD, op. cit., p. 31, et seq. The examinations of the liver of the human 

 subject for sugar were made by Bernard in executed criminals, soon after death, 



