236 



PRODUCTION OF 



and colorless 1 after which it is tested for glucose l)y the use of Fehling's 

 solution. 



We have experimented, in the manner above described, upon twenty 

 dogs. In four of the cases, the method employed was that by boiling 

 water ; in the remaining sixteen cases, that by alcohol. The animals 

 were examined four, eight, twelve, and twenty-four hours after feeding ; 

 the food consisting always of the fresh or cooked meat of the bullock's 

 heart. The longest time which elapsed from the separation of the liver 

 to its immersion in alcohol or boiling water was thirteen seconds ; 

 the shortest time was three seconds. The average time was six and a 

 quarter seconds. In every instance the final watery solution gave a 

 distinct and perfectly unmistakable sugar reaction by the copper test. 

 In one-half the cases, the presence of sugar alone was determined by 

 this method ; in the remainder, its proportion to one thousand parts of 

 the liver tissue was also ascertained. 



The following is a list of these experiments, with their results : 



GLUCOSE FOUND IN THE LIVER OF THE DOG IMMEDIATELY AFTER ITS EXTRACTION. 



It appears from these results, that when the requisite precautions are 

 adopted, glucose is found in the liver at the earliest period at which it 

 is possible to examine the organ after its separation from the body of 

 the living animal ; the average quantity of sugar existing in the liver 

 tissue, at this time, being at least two and a half parts per thousand. 

 The exact proportion of sugar thus present in the liver at the instant 

 of death, or within a few seconds afterward, varies from 0.804 to 4.375 



1 All the necessary details of this process are given in the New York Medical 

 Journal for July, 1871. 



