1893.] Effects of Sugar injected into a Vein. 179 



tAs to the geological age, the evidence obtained goes far to prove 

 at this " sub-fossil " fauna existed at a comparatively very recent 

 period, and that Man was contemporary with these Vertebrates. The 

 evidence of various kinds may be arranged as follows : 



1. The very fresh aspect of all the remains, which are 



2. Found in marshes and in recent alluvia (dunes), the formation 

 of which is still in progress. 



3. Crocodilus robustus is still existing in lakes in the interior. 



4. Some of the bones bear traces of Man's handiwork. 



5. The record of a monstrous animal, probably the Hippopotamus, 

 is preserved in the legends of the natives. 



6. Amongst the accounts brief descriptions with native names 

 given by a trustworthy explorer of the seventeenth century, De 

 Flacourt, are several which, on account of size and other characters 

 assigned to them, cannot be identified with any animals actually 

 existing in the island. One of the descriptions may possibly refer to 

 Megaladapis and that of a bird, from the size of an Ostrich to one of 

 the species of jEpyornis. 



7. Remains of domestic cattle were found, together with the bones 

 of the extinct forms of Mammals, &c. 



On the other hand, evidence is adduced in support of the almost 

 certainty that a Tertiary Vertebrate fauna will be, sooner or later, 

 forthcoming in Madagascar, owing to the recent discovery of Tertiary 

 lacustrine deposits in several different localities in that island. 



XVII. Some of the Effects and Chemical Changes of Sugar 

 injected into a Vein." By VAUGHAN HARLEY, M.D., 

 Teacher of Chemical Pathology, University College, 

 London, Grocer Research Scholar. Commnnicated by 

 GEORGE HARLEY, M.D., F.R.S. Received June 13, 1893. 



(From the Physiological Institute, Leipzig.) 



It being no longer doubted that sugar is essential to life, and it 

 having been experimentally shown that the animal organism can 

 form saccharine matter out of. proteids, as well as carbohydrates, it 

 becomes of importance to know what changes sugar undergoes in the 

 body before its elements are finally eliminated. 



According to present knowledge, it is considered that by the three 

 chemical processes of hydration, oxidation, and reduction, the mole- 

 cule of sugar is changed into larger and smaller molecular groups, 

 and that it is in the breaking down and building up of these that 

 heat and vital energy are developed. The basis of this belief rests 

 on the observation that when sugar is artificially introduced into the 



