CARBOHYDRATES. 85 



The liver contained 0.0259 gram of glycogen. This shows that it had 

 retained the power of forming glycogen. 



Pfliiger also examined the muscles, and, as in the case of the liver, found 

 values which were not different from the normal. The only striking fact 

 was the high percentage of water. In spite of this agreement of com- 

 position in the case of the liver and muscles (which obviously play the most 

 important part in the metabolism of carbohydrates) with the values 

 obtained under normal conditions, it is on no account permissible to draw 

 the conclusion that as a matter of fact there has been no change in the 

 materials which go to make up these tissues. As we shall see subse- 

 quently, our methods of analysis are not sensitive enough, and our knowledge 

 of the cell-constituents is far too inadequate for us to attempt to answer 

 such questions with exactness. It is of importance, first of all, to know 

 that so far as we are now able to judge, the liver, like the organs indis- 

 pensable to life [e.g., the brain, heart, and kidneys], is protected during 

 inanition at the cost of all other tissues. From this the conclusion may 

 be drawn that evidently the liver is not simply cut off from the metabolism 

 of carbohydrates during the whole duration of glucosuria, but, on the 

 contrary, is continually acting vigorously. It gives up the large amounts 

 of sugar which are found in the urine, and in it evidently takes place, as we 

 shall see, the transformation into sugar of substances not belonging to the 

 carbohydrate group. 



The fact that the sugar content of the blood rises after total extirpation 

 of the pancreas, while at the same time the glycogen content of the organs, 

 the liver especially, remains low, is a matter of considerable importance. 

 A true glucohemia naturally ensues which causes glucosuria. Thus the 

 cause is the same as in all the other cases of sugar elimination, which have 

 been observed up to the present time, phloridzin glucosuria possibly 

 forming an exception. We are now ready to take up the question as to what 

 causes the glucohemia. It is a matter of fact that it appears as soon 

 as the pancreatic gland is removed, which suggests the thought that the 

 loss of the function of this gland is the cause of the observed disturbance. 

 First of all we must remember that the pancreas plays an important part 

 in the digestion taking place in the alimentary canal. We have seen that 

 the breaking down of starch in the bowels is brought about principally by 

 the action of the diastase from the pancreatic gland. On the other hand, 

 it is certain that on taking away the ferments of the pancreas the absorption 

 and assimilation of all the remaining foods, and consequently the whole 

 metabolism, must suffer. We have then to decide, first of all, whether the 

 glucosuria produced by the removal of the pancreas can be traced to the 

 absence of the digestive ferments. This must be answered in the nega- 

 tive, because, for one thing, if the ducts of the pancreas are ligated, 

 glucohemia does not develop. Then again the greater part of the 



