116 GLANDS IN HEALTH AND DISEASE 



ultimately finds its way to the small intestine. In 

 1889 Minkowski and von Mering, two German in- 

 vestigators, proved that in addition to its external 

 secretion, it also produces an internal one a se- 

 cretion that passes directly into the blood stream, 

 and one that regulates the sugar metabolism of the 

 body. Since this sugar or carbohydrate metabo- 

 lism is one that is inseparably connected with an 

 important function of the liver, a few words must 

 be said regarding that organ. 



The liver. The liver, which is situated on the 

 right side of the body and partly covers the stom- 

 ach, is the largest gland of the body. It weighs 

 from three and a half to four pounds. It produces 

 an external secretion, the bile, which is either first 

 stored in the gall bladder until wanted, or is sent 

 directly into the small intestine, meeting the secre- 

 tion from the pancreas, and helping the latter in 

 its work of digestion. But it does far more. It is 

 the seat of carbohydrate metabolism in the body. 



Carbohydrate* metabolism. Now what do I mean 

 by "carbohydrate metabolism"? Carbohydrates 

 are one of the three classes of foodstuffs, and 

 they include such substances as sugar and starch 

 (in flour, say) . When we eat one or more of these 

 carbohydrates they may or may not be broken up in 

 the digestive tube into chemically simpler sub- 

 stances. If they are chemically complex, such as 

 starch, they will be ; If they are chemically simple, 



