91 



pithing. The circulation was maintained by artificial respiration ; 

 an enormous flow of alkaline urine took place, which in both cases 

 presented a saccharine character. 



From another experiment, however, it is evident that the carbo- 

 nate of soda, if it arrives at the liver in sufficient quantity, holds in 

 check the tendency of hepatine to pass into sugar, and thus prevents 

 the production of saccharine urine when the circulation is kept up 

 artificially after death. Introduced into the general venous system, 

 as in the two experiments mentioned, the amount of the carbonated 

 alkali that reached the liver was insufficient to counteract the ordi- 

 nary post-mortem change. Introduced into a branch of the portal 

 system, it must all pass to the liver, and accordingly the result is 

 altered. I injected 200 grains of carbonate of soda, dissolved in an 

 ounce of water, into a branch of the portal vein of a dog. The 

 animal was killed by destroying the medulla oblongata. Artificial 

 respiration was performed for an hour and three quarters, during 

 the whole of which time the heart continued beating vigorously. 

 The urine contained in the bladder at the end of the experiment was 

 pale-coloured and alkaline, and effervesced slightly on the addition 

 of an acid. It did not give evidence of even a trace of sugar. The 

 blood which escaped on opening the body behaved precisely as it 

 does under natural circumstances, and gave just a trace of reaction 

 with the copper solution. The liver, examined a short time after 

 removal, was quite devoid of sugar. The presence of hepatine, how- 

 ever, was easily recognized, and in the course of twenty-four hours 

 sugar had been produced, s as to give a copious orange-red reduc- 

 tion with the copper solution. 



Looking to these facts, I determined to investigate the effects of 

 an alkali on the hepatine in the liver during life. I had long since 

 noticed that the carbonate of potash introduced into the stomach 

 caused a disappearance of hepatine in a short space of time without 

 the production of sugar. I had injected 200 grains dissolved in two 

 ounces of water, through the oesophagus into the stomach of a dog 

 that had recently been fed. An examination of the blood before 

 and at intervals after the injection, gave no sign of any difference 

 being produced. The animal died during the night ; and from its 

 condition in the morning it was probable that death had taken place 

 within twelve hours after the injection. The liver was much altered 



