372 THE LIVER. 



increasing the quantity of glycogen in the body. The action of inulin 

 seems to be somewhat uncertain. 1 The statements are questioned in 

 regard to the action of the pentoses. CREMER found that in rabbits and 

 hens various pentoses, such as rhamnose, xylose, and arabinose, have a 

 positive influence on the glycogen formation, and SALKOWSKI obtained 

 the same result on feeding Z-arabinose. FRENTZEL, on the contrary, 

 found no glycogen formation on feeding xylose to a rabbit which 

 had previously been made glycogen-free by strychnine poisoning, and 

 NEUBERG and WOHLGEMUTH 2 obtained similar negative results on feed- 

 ing rabbits with d- and r-arabinose. In general we can for the present 

 accept the view that the pentoses are not direct glycogen formers. 



The hexoses, and the carbohydrates derived therefrom, do not all 

 possess the ability of forming or accumulating glycogen to the same 

 extent. Thus C. VoiT 3 and his pupils have shown that dextrose has a 

 more powerful action than cane-sugar, while milk-sugar is less active 

 (in rabbits and hens) than dextrose, levulose, cane-sugar, or maltose. 

 The following substances when introduced into the body also increase 

 the quantity of glycogen in the liver: Glycerin, gelatin, arbutin, and 

 likewise, according to the investigations of KULZ, erythrite, quercite, 

 dulcite, mannite, inosite, ethylene and propylene glycol, glucuronic anhydride, 

 saccharic acid, mucic acid, sodium tartrate, saccharin, isosaccharin, 

 and urea. Ammonium carbonate, glycocoll, and asparagine may similarly r 

 according to ROHMANN, cause an increase in the amount of glycogen in 

 the liver. NEBELTHAU finds that other ammonium salts and some of 

 the amides, as well as certain narcotics, hypnotics, and antipyretics, pro- 

 duce an increase in the glycogen of the liver. This action of the anti- 

 pyretics (especially antipyrine) had been shown by LEPINE and PoRTERET. 4 



PFLUGER has conclusively shown that we have no positive proof 

 as to the action of these various bodies as glycogen-formers. That 

 glycerin may in a positive sense influence the amount of glycogen in the 

 liver is not to be doubted from the experiments of WEISS and LUCHSINGER 

 on glycogen formation, which will be mentioned in connection with the 

 experiments on the relation of glycerin to the formation of sugar. 



The fats, according to BOUCHARD and DESGREZ, increase the glycogen 

 content of the muscles but not of the liver, while COUVREUR 5 believes that 

 the glycogen is increased at the expense of the fat in the silkworm larva 



1 See Miura, Zeitschr. f . Biologic, 32, and Nakaseko, Amer. Journ. of Physiol., 4. 



2 Salkowski, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 32; Neuberg and Wohlgemuth, ibid. 

 See also Pniiger, 1. c., and Cremer, 1. c. 



3 Zeitschr. f . Biologic, 28. 



4 R6hmann, Pfluger's Arch., 39; Nebelthau, Zeitschr. f. Biologic, 28; Lupine and 

 Porteret, Compt. rend., 107. 



5 Bouchard et Desgrez, Compt. rend., 130; Couvreur, Compt. rend, de soc. biol., 47. 



