14 CHEMICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



this deficiency is caused by a degeneration of the gland 

 consequent upon the operative interference. The juice 

 contains an albuminous matter at present undefined, 

 possibly some mucine, and generally leucine, which is 

 present in the parenchyma of the gland in larger quanti- 

 ties : it has a more or less alkaline reaction. 

 Sf yfunc " ^ke liver has an obvious function, and that is to 

 secrete bile. It seems almost superfluous to make 

 such a statement, but the views of physiologists 

 regarding this organ have so often been perverted that 

 it is necessary to recur to elementary principles. The 

 error regarding the function of the liver which has 

 crept into physiology has mainly been caused by the 

 discovery in it of a substance which has the capability 

 of being transformed into sugar, namely, the above- 

 described glycogen, also called hepatine, or liver- 

 dextrine ; and in consequence of that in itself remark- 

 able and interesting discovery it has generally been 

 believed that the main function of the liver was that of 

 forming sugar. We know now that such is not the 

 case.* The main function of the liver is one of 

 considerable intricacy, and essentially connected with 

 the great features of the process of digestion. 

 ?tom n a e c x hdi. of Digestion in the stomach is produced by a process 

 fS S?e fiuic- in which of chemical ingredients hydrochloric acid 



tion. 



* See the articles of Pavy on this subject, ' Guy's Hosp. Rep./ 1858, 

 iv, p. 291 ; ' Phil. Trans.,' 1860, p. 595, and my critical experiments in 

 ' Brit. Med. Journ.,' vol. i, 1860. In these latter the analytical method 

 now generally followed was first used and published ; it was afterwards 

 adopted by Pavy, Bernard, Kiihne, and others. For confirmation of the 

 variable results see Meissner, ' Jahresbericht fur,' 1862, p. 310 et seq. ; 

 Bitter, ' Zeitschr. f , rat. Med./ 24, 65 ; Eulenburg, ' Journ. fur Pract. 

 Chem./ 103, 108, 1868. 



