303 



three was 17*23 per cent. Four dogs were placed upon an animal 

 diet, and about a quarter of a pound of ordinary cane-sugar ad- 

 ministered daily for a short period. The average weight given by 

 the four livers was one-sixteenth and a half that of the animal, and 

 the average amount of hepatine yielded was 14*5 per cent. 



The natural destination of hepatine in the living body remains to 

 be determined. It has also to be shown how it resists transforma- 

 tion into sugar during life, when it is so rapidly changed at an 

 elevated temperature immediately after death. A possible analogy 

 may be presented by the following occurrence : When a solution of 

 hepatine, in a neutral state, is placed in contact with saliva, an 

 almost instantaneous transformation into sugar takes place ; but if 

 a little acid alkali or carbonated alkali be added, scarcely a trace of 

 change is for some time discoverable. 



Under normal circumstances, rarely an appreciable amount of 

 sugar is encountered in the circulatory system only, according to my 

 analyses, from about *047 to '073 of a grain in 100 grains of defi- 

 brinated right-ventricular blood ; and this would appear to result 

 rather from a simple escape of a small amount of hepatine from the 

 tissue of the liver into the blood whilst circulating through the 

 capillaries, than from a special functional operation of the organ ; for 

 when a disturbance of the circulation, whether by congestion or the 

 opposite, is occasioned, sugar makes its appearance to a considerable 

 extent in the system, because the admixture of hepatine with the 

 blood is favoured. It can be easily shown by experiment, that on 

 introducing hepatine into the circulatory system, a saccharine state 

 of the blood is induced, and if enough have been employed, a 

 strongly marked diabetic condition of urine is established. 



Sacrificing an animal and maintaining the circulation by perform- 

 ing artificial respiration, occasions a well-marked diabetes. With 

 the destruction of life, the transformation of hepatine into sugar 

 takes place, and this, being carried away by the blood, is eliminated 

 by the kidneys, and thus renders the urine strongly saccharine. 



Many phenomena which were before obscurely explained, receive 

 a lucid interpretation from the new facts which have now been 

 brought to light. 



VOL. IX. 



