PLACE OF FAT FORMATION 389 



similates the fluid fat of codliver oil or the firm fat of cow's 

 butter. We have little positive information on these points ; 

 but it would undoubtedly be worth while for the podiatrists 

 especially to devote some attention to the subject. Befer- 

 ence has already been made to the observation that the 

 wasting of young individuals leads to an impoverishment 

 of the subcutaneous fat in oleic acid. May not the well- 

 proved favorable influence of codliver oil, aside from its 

 very real food value, be possibly dependent upon the fact 

 that it, in the absence of fat depots, serves to supply fluid 

 and easily absorbed fatty acids f 



Place of Origin of the Fat from Carbohydrates. An- 

 other important question is, in what tissues is the fat formed 

 from carbohydrates. One is, of course, first likely to think 

 of the liver. G. Eosenf eld, however, concludes from results 

 obtained by Bleibtreu with geese stuffed with carbohydrate 

 food, in some of which the blood remained poor in fat, that 

 if the carbohydrate fat is actually formed in the liver and 

 thence worked into the subcutaneous depot the migration of 

 the fat would necessarily always be recognizable by an in- 

 crease in the amount of fat in the blood. Arguing in this 

 wise Bosenfeld finds himself forced to the hypothesis that 

 fat is constructed from carbohydrate at the place of its 

 deposit, therefore especially in the fat cells of the sub- 

 cutaneous tissue. 22 While normally the adipose tissue of 

 rabbits is free from glycogen, it has been shown that after 

 free carbohydrate nutrition microscopic examination will 

 reveal a marked amount of glycogen in this situation ; but 

 after continued forced feeding of carbohydrates the glyco- 

 gen after a time disappears from the fat cells. 23 Magnus- 

 Levy believes that the interpretation that this is an evidence 



32 G. Rosenfeld, 1. c., p. 671. 



^Gierke (Freiburg), Verb. d. Pathol. Gesellscb., 1906, 182; Best, ibid., 

 184. 



