362 STUDIES IN ADVANCED PHYSIOLOGY. 



the kidneys and so induce B right's Disease in some of its 

 forms. The point, therefore, is to regulate in some way 

 the amount of albumens in the blood to avoid this excess. 



As the albumens cannot be stored but one alternative is 

 left. They must be destroyed as albumens. This de- 

 struction takes place in the liver. Here the excess of the 

 albumens is broken up; that is, disintegrated chemically 

 into two main products. One product contains the nitro- 

 gen of the albumen and is the urea, which is then sent to 

 the kidneys to be eliminated. The other part is a non- 

 nitrogenous part, and is by the liver changed into fat or 

 sugar, or both, and so made possible to be retained in the 

 body. Whether this non-nitrogenous portion of the excess 

 albumen is changed to sugar or to fat seems to depend to 

 some extent upon the disposition of the animal in this 

 matter. In breeding animals for fattening purposes special 

 attention is paid to this fact, and those animals are selected 

 which, as we say "fatten easily, " and so a race finally 

 comes to be, every member of which shows a tendency to 

 convert all extra albumens into fat. In many instances, 

 however, there is a tendency towards the formation of 

 sugar, and so in spite of the richest diet but little headway 

 is made in laying up fat. If this excess is turned into 

 sugar in the liver it may, of course, at once be changed 

 into glycogen and so stored for future purposes. If it is 

 changed into fat it is dropped into the general circulation 

 and distributed over the body. 



We have thus far, then, found two sources of the gly- 

 cogen in the liver. The first and main source, the sugars 

 of the body; second, a derivative from the excess proteids. 

 It does not seem possible that the fats are able in any way 

 to be changed into the glycogen. This change of the pro- 

 teids by their disintegration ^or burning in the liver into 

 urea and into glycogen, has a medical value in the fact 

 that persons suffering with diabetes must not only avoid the 

 carbohydrates, but must be equally careful not to take an 

 excess of ordinary proteids lest the formation and loss of 



