296 



in the liver, after each kind of diet, the result obtained would, I be- 

 lieve, have led him to a different conclusion. This being a point of 

 great practical importance in the treatment of diabetes, I may be 

 here permitted to mention that I have occasionally found nearly twice 

 as much sugar in the blood of an animal on a mixed, than in that of 

 one feeding on a purely flesh diet. 



To return to the last experiment. About two hours after the 

 death of the animal, portions of the frozen part of the liver, and of 

 that which had been kept warm in the body of the animal, were 

 carefully weighed, and the proportions of sugar they respectively 

 contained estimated by volumetric analysis. 



The portion of frozen liver was found to contain 0*333 per cent., 

 and that of the other 1*55 per cent, of saccharine matter. It is 

 thus seen that in two hours the sugar in the liver had augmented 

 nearly fivefold. As Bernard has shown, the simple washing out 

 of the liver by passing a stream of water through its vessels, would 

 remove all the sugar anteriorly formed. On placing it again aside 

 for a short time, a fresh portion of sugar would form in it at the 

 expense of glucogen. 



0-333 per cent, of sugar seems a small quantity ; but if we suppose 

 a liver weighing, as in man, not less than 50 oz., to contain 0*333 per 

 cent., above 70 grs. of sugar would be present in it at the 

 moment of death, no very insignificant quantity, when it is recol- 

 lected that sugar is removed from the liver with every pulsation of 

 the heart, to be partly consumed, and that it is as continually sup- 

 plied by the organ. 



The results of the experiments now related do not therefore in 

 any way countenance the notion that sugar is not produced in the 

 healthy animal body. On the contrary, such conclusions as they 

 afford are altogether in favour of the generally received views upon 

 the subject. 



From the preceding experiments the following conclusions may be 

 drawn : 



1st. Sugar is a normal constituent of the blood of the general 

 circulation. 



2ndly. Portal blood of an animal on mixed diet contains sugar. 



3rdly. Portal blood of a fasting animal, as well as of an animal 

 fed solely on flesh, is devoid of sugar. 



