92 



from its natural appearance, and did not contain a trace of either 

 hepatine or sugar. 



In other experiments, where carbonate of soda was introduced 

 into the stomach and duodenum, I found that when the animal had 

 lived several hours, the hepatine had entirely disappeared ; but when 

 it was killed within three or four hours, some amount of hepatine 

 remained. 



Absorption having had to take place, the passage of the carbo- 

 nated alkali to the liver can only have been comparatively gradual. 

 On the other hand, the rapid distribution of it in tolerable quantity 

 through the organ, as by injecting it into a branch of the portal vein, 

 causes a transformation of hepatine into something else than sugar 

 in an astonishingly short period of time. I regard the discovery of 

 this fact as a most important step in our study of the physiological 

 history of hepatine, and believe that it is not unlikely to lead us to 

 a knowledge of its natural destination in the economy. 



In proof of the effect produced by the injection of a solution of 

 carbonate of soda into the portal system during life, I will give the 

 leading features of the first three experiments that I performed. 



In the first, sixty grains of carbonate of soda dissolved in five 

 drachms of water were injected into one of the mesenteric veins of a 

 healthy, nearly full-grown pup. Between one and a half and two 

 hours afterwards the animal was killed by pithing. The liver was 

 much swollen, dark-coloured from congestion, and easily lacerable. 

 The walls of the gall-bladder were thickened from oedema, and the 

 tissue in the neighbourhood of the transverse fissure of the liver was 

 also quite cedematous. The liver contained neither hepatine nor 

 sugar. The blood collected from the right side of the heart was 

 also quite free from sugar. 



In the second experiment, fifty grains of the carbonate, dissolved 

 in four drachms of water, were employed as the injection. In per- 

 forming the operation, the stomach was observed to contain food, 

 and the lacteals to be well injected with chyle. Four hours after- 

 wards the dog was pithed. The liver was devoid of both hepatine 

 and sugar. The blood from the right side of the heart was likewise 

 devoid of sugar. The urine found in the bladder presented an alkaline 

 reaction, and effervesced slightly on the addition of an acid ; like 

 the liver and blood, it was quite devoid of sugar. In the third, 



