234 PRODUCTION OF 



nates in the tissue of the organ itself, by transformation of the glycogen, 

 is that it continues to be formed for a certain length of time after death, 

 provided the liver "contain glycogen. This fact also was first shown by 

 Bernard, 1 and is easily verified. If the liver of a healthy dog be taken 

 out of the body immediately after death, and injected with water by the 

 portal vein, the watery injection which escapes by the hepatic vein, after 

 traversing the liver-tissue, will be found to contain sugar. But, as the 

 injection is continued, the quantity of glucose extracted by it from the 

 liver grows constantly less, until, in from half an hour to an hour, it is 

 completely exhausted, and at the end of this time neither the injected 

 fluid nor the hepatic tissue contains any trace of glucose. If such a 

 liver be kept in a moderately warm place for some hours it will again 

 be found abundantly saccharine. The glucose may be again exhausted 

 by a fresh injection and again reproduced, until all the glycogen has 

 been transformed or until the changes of decomposition begin to be 

 established. The glycogen itself, being less soluble than the sugar, 

 remains behind after such an injection, and produces a new supply of 

 glucose by a new transformation. 



Immediately after death, accordingly, if the liver be allowed to remain 

 saturated with its natural organic juices, the transformation of its gly- 

 cogen takes place at first with considerable rapidity ; approximating, no 

 doubt, the rate at which this transformation takes place during life. 

 Within the first hour, according to our own observations in the dog, 

 the glucose in the liver tissue is increased to between 4.81 and 5.66 

 times its original amount. After this the change goes on more slowly, 

 its rate diminishing with the lapse of time, so that at the end of twelve 

 hours the sugar may have increased to not more than 5.73 times its 

 former quantity. The following table gives the results of three ex- 

 periments in this direction. 



PROPORTION OF GLUCOSE IN THE LIVER OF THE DOG, AT DIFFERENT PERIODS AFTER 



DEATH. 



No. 1. 



No. 2. 



No. 3. 



In the tables of Bernard (page 234), the results are drawn mostly from 

 livers examined some time after death, and according^ represent, not 



1 Gazette Hebdomadaire. Paris, 5 Octobre, 1855. 



