8 CHEMICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



frequently contains dextrine, always inosite (a particular 

 kind of sugar), and lactic acid. All these might 

 enable the liver of the animal which eats the flesh to 

 form glycogen. At present it is uncertain from 

 which material the liver forms glycogen ; possibly it is 

 formed out of starchy and albuminous matters at the 

 same time ; at least most of it is formed (up to 12 per 

 cent, of the weight of the liver in fowls) when these two 

 kinds of food are digested together in large quantity. 



As the dead liver was found to transform glycogen 

 quickly into sugar, and as some sugar could be found 

 in hepatic blood, it was concluded that glycogen is 

 transformed into sugar, and passes into the blood, 

 to be there oxydised or changed as required. This 

 view, upon which was based an entire theory, called 

 that of the glycogenetic function of the liver, was 

 received for some years by physiologists in general, 

 until one of its greatest admirers, Pavy, believed that 

 he had discovered it to be erroneous. According to 

 him no sugar is made in the liver in the living healthy 

 body. I showed that his experiments admitted of such 

 variation as to prove either his or Bernard's doctrine. 

 At present the bulk of evidence goes to show that, as 

 a portion only of the starch in the intestines is trans- 

 formed into sugar and passes into the chyle, so a 

 portion only of the glycogen of the liver is transformed 

 into sugar and passes into the blood. Quantitative 

 experiments on a large scale, combined with the 

 chemolytic method of research, will alone be able 

 finally to decide the matters under discussion. 

 tfou"of 8 lSS" When sugar in considerable quantity exists in the 



