286 LACTOSURIA 



the intestine. It can be readily appreciated that the lactose 

 absorbed without preceding cleavage and in a sense a 

 foreign substance to the tissues, cannot be utilized in the 

 economy of the infant. It should be noted that C. v. Noor- 

 den and Zuelzer 48 have also encountered appreciable 

 amounts of lactose in the urine of children, not suffering 

 from gastroenteric affections, in the first year of life, pro- 

 vided about 30 grams of milk-sugar be added to the food. 

 A further possibility is that of the lactose which is split 

 in the intestine before resorption the easily assimilable 

 glucose is completely burned, while the less assimilable 

 galactose fraction passes undecomposed to the kidneys so 

 that in the urine the lactose is found mixed with galactose. 

 Luzatto 49 noted after free administration of milk-sugar to 

 a dog under certain experimental conditions only galactose, 

 but no lactose, in the urine. 



Alimentary Galactosuria in Disturbances of Hepatic 

 Function. This brings us to the much discussed question of 

 alimentary galactosuria. There is no doubt that the 

 economy possesses the ability to transform galactose into 

 grape-sugar. This is indicated in the first place by the fact 

 that galactose is a possible source of glycogen, and in the 

 second place by its quantitative conversion into urinary 

 sugar in severe diabetes. The actual availability of 

 galactose in the economy is always very much lower than 

 that of dextrose and laevulose. This is particularly notable 

 in the carnivora, in which even after small dosage of 

 galactose this sugar may appear in the urine. 50 



In the course of the past few years alimentary galacto- 

 suria has frequently attracted the attention of clinicians, 

 who have for a long time been seeking for means of chemical 



48 C. v. Noorden, Handb. d. Pathol. d. Stoffwechs., 2d ed., 2, 56, 1907. 



**R. Luzatto ( Schmiedeberg's Lab., Strassburg), Arch. f. exper. Pathol., 

 52, 106, 1905. 



"Literature upon Alimentary Galactosuria: A. Mangus-Levy, Handb. d. 

 Biochem., 4', 379-381, 1909. 



