DIAHKTES MELLITUS IN THK I)0(;. 269. 



also noted in almost all cases. Usually very marked, it produces 

 deformity of the abdomen almost simulating ascites, a condition from 

 which it is differentiated by palpation. Some subjects show digestive 

 disturbance, particularly vomiting and constipation, alternating with 

 attacks of diarrhcea. 



Cutaneous complications like erythema, furunculosis, or gangrene 

 are occasionally seen, as are diseases of the respiratory passages, 

 bronchitis, or pneumonia with a tendency to gangrene and tuberculosis. 

 They are, however, distinctly rare. Disease of the eye, on the other 

 hand, is very frequent. Three fourths of the dogs affected with 

 diabetes suffer during the course of the disease from bilateral cataract, 

 which often produces complete blindness in a few weeks. Deafness, 

 loss of smell, paralysis, and comatose or apoplectiform attacks may 

 also occur. 



In diabetic dogs examined after death changes have been found in 

 the liver and pancreas- In most cases the liver was greatl}- enlarged, 

 hypersemic, and undergoing fatty degeneration ; in some cirrhosis was 

 also seen, but the seat of the sclerosing process has not been clearly 

 described ; in a few cases mention has been made of atrophic changes 

 in the pancreas. At the post-mortem examination of a bitch affected 

 with wasting diabetes, Lienaux found the liver undergoing fatt}- 

 degeneration, and the pancreas atrophied. The bitch examined by 

 Penberthy showed similar lesions of the liver and pancreas. 



I shall only sa}- a few words on the pathogen\- of diabetes During 

 the course of the present century, but especialh' after the discoveries 

 of Bernard, and more particularly during the last twent\- }-ears, this 

 question has greatly interested sa\-ants and experimenters. F'or a long 

 time the conditions necessary to the appearance of sugar in the urine 

 have been known. Being indispensable to nutrition, sugar exists nor- 

 mall}- in the blood and tissues. The arterial blood of the dog contains 

 about I '30 grammes, and the venous blood about 90 centigrammes 

 per one thousand grammes. Manufactured by the liver at the expense 

 of its glycogen, the sugar found in the blood is variously utilised by the 

 organism : one portion is burned up, another is assimilated b}- the 

 tissues. In health the proportion remains practicall}- the same, but 

 this ph3-siological condition may be disturbed, either b}' excessive 

 production of sugar, or by diminution in its consumption by the 

 tissues : in either case h}-perglyc8emia exists, the necessary precedent 

 to the appearance of sugar in the urine — /. e. glycosuria. The latter 

 condition occurs as soon as the blood contains more than 3 grammes. 



