40 APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY 



glycosuria is applied. The limit of assimilating power 

 varies in different individuals and in the case of different 

 forms of carbohydrate. For starch, owing to its very 

 gradual digestion, no limit is known. For some of the 

 chief sugars the limit is as follows : 



For glucose ... 150 to 200 grammes in one dose. 

 laevulose ... 140 to 160 ,, 



cane-sugar 150 to 200 



milk-sugar 80 to 120 



It will be observed that the assimilation limit is less 

 for lactose than for any other form of sugar. This may 

 perhaps be due to some of it escaping the action of the 

 ferment in the intestine, which should convert lactose 

 into glucose and galactose, with the result that it reaches 

 the blood as lactose, in which form, as we have seen, it 

 cannot be utilized. It is a curious fact that even in 

 advanced cases of cirrhosis of the liver it is by no means 

 easy to produce alimentary glycosuria, except in the case 

 of laevulose, and such ' alimentary laevulosuria ' may be 

 regarded as a sign of ' hepatic insufficiency.' The 

 reason for this is unknown. 



That some of the sugar which enters the body is con- 

 verted into fat we are quite sure, but we do not even 

 know for certain where this transformation takes place. 

 The liver is generally regarded as the most probable site, 

 but it is not unlikely that the cells of the connective 

 tissue possess the power of fat formation also. There is 

 some reason to believe, on clinical grounds, that this 

 power of converting carbohydrate into fat is not well 

 developed in certain individuals, and that from the 



