THE DIGESTIVE JUICES 87 



EXTIRPATION OF THE PANCREAS 



Complete removal of the pancreas in animals and diseases of 

 the pancreas in man produce a condition of diabetes, in addition 

 to the loss of pancreatic action in the intestines. Grafting the 

 pancreas from another animal into the abdomen of the animal 

 from which the pancreas has been previously removed relieves the 

 diabetic condition. 



How the pancreas acts otherwise than in producing the pancreatic 

 juice is not known. It must, how r ever, have other functions related 

 to the general metabolic phenomena of the body, which are disturbed 

 by removal or disease of the gland. This is an illustration of a 

 universal truth viz. that each part of the body does not merely do 

 its own special work, but is concerned in the great cycle of changes 

 which is called general metabolism. Interference with any organ 

 upsets, not only its specific function, but causes disturbances through 

 the body generally. The interdependence of the circulatory and 

 respiratory systems is a well-known instance. Removal of the 

 thyroid gland upsets the whole body, producing widespread changes 

 known as myxcedema. Removal of the testes produces, not only a 

 loss of the spermatic secretion, but changes the whole growth and 

 appearance of the animal. Removal of the greater part of the 

 kidneys produces rapid wasting and the breaking down of the tissues 

 to form an increased quantity of urea. The precise way in which 

 these glands are related to the general body processes is, however, a 

 subject of which we know as yet very little. The theory at present 

 most in favour is that certain glands produce an internal secretion, 

 which leaves the gland via the lymph or venous blood, and is then 

 distributed to minister to parts elsewhere. Removal of such glands 

 as the thyroid or suprarenal produces disease or death because this 

 internal secretion can no longer be formed. In the case of the 

 pancreas, the external secretion of the pancreas (that is, pancreatic 

 juice) is formed by the cells lining the acini, and the internal secre- 

 tion, stoppage of which in some way leads to diabetes, has been 

 attributed by some to the islets of Langerhans ; but if these islets 

 are only stages in the formation of acini, as they have been shown 

 to be, it is difficult to fully accept this view. 



In diabetes the oxidative powers of the body cells are lessened, and 

 the capability of these cells to prepare sugar for oxidation is impaired. 

 In this process the sugar or its derivative glycuronic acid is split into 

 smaller molecules, and ultimately into water and carbon dioxide. The 



