202 MICROBES AND HEALTH. 



Glycosuria, or Diabetes Mellitus. 



During digestion the starch contained in the different 

 food products is converted into glucose or grape-sugar. 

 This is absorbed and carried by the veins direct to the 

 liver, where some of it is converted into a substance 

 called glycogen, and this is stored up by the liver-cells 

 and delivered to the circulation as the system requires. 

 As a result of indigestion and lack of nourishment the 

 liver may become unhealthy and unable to convert the 

 glucose into glycogen, and then there is too much glu- 

 cose or grape-sugar in the circulation. 



The system cannot oxidize so much, and passing 

 through the circulation it irritates and weakens the 

 kidneys, until some of it finds its way into the secreting 

 tubes and is eliminated. 



Primarily this is called glycosuria, or diabetes, later it 

 produces Bright's disease. 



In health the glucose or grape-sugar is oxidized ; i. e., 

 unites with the oxygen from the air we breathe. This 

 produces heat and aids in maintaining the bodily tem- 

 perature, but the system cannot oxidize the excessive 

 amount present in diabetes, hence its appearance 

 through the kidneys, and later Bright's disease. 



The cause of glycosuria has never been given. Medi- 

 cal authors have charged the disease to the liver, kid- 

 neys, pancreas, brain, "some undiscovered condition of 

 the nervous system/' etc. Undoubtedly the first cause 

 of this disease is found in the lowering effects of dys- 

 pepsia and retained waste. This results in a lack of 

 nourishment, the nervous system becomes weakened 

 and irritated, and the different organs cannot properly 



