448 Disturbances of Rcspiratioii. 



split) ; only about forty-four per cent, of the proteids are absorbed 

 (Abelmann, Krelil), and sixty to eighty per cent, of the carbo- 

 hydrates. The latter and the sugar formed within the body from 

 the albumens are excreted unchanged in the urine (Minkowski). 

 The diabetes thus produced varies in its severity according as to 

 whether the gland has been completely or only partially removed 

 in operation, whether it is generally involved by disease, or 

 whether portions of the gland remain in functionating condition. 

 In dogs and cats after total ablation of the organ, the urine 

 usually contains as high as eight to ten per cent, of sugar ; and 

 the animal may be expected to die from the progressive cachexia 

 in the course of fifteen to twenty days. Diabetes fails, if. in ex- 

 perimental removal, a sufiicient amount of the gland is left or 

 transplanted under the skin ; and occlusion of the duct (ligature, 

 obstruction by calculi) does not invarial)ly cause diabetes, as 

 the secretory substance may then be absorbed through the lym- 

 phatics and be conveyed to the blood. The active agent involved 

 is believed to be a ferment whose function is the destruction of 

 the sugar in the blood ; if this be wanting the sugar necessarily 

 accumulates in the blood and passes unchanged into the urine. 

 It is of further interest to recall that in diffuse carcinomatosis of 

 the pancreas diabetes may similarly be absent, apparently because 

 the tumor cells, as the offspring of the secreting gland cells, are 

 capable of carrying on the function of the latter to an extent suffi- 

 cient for the metaboHc demands in this direction. 



The effects of failure of the pancreatic juice to pass into the 

 intestine mav, in normal conditions of the intestine, be practically 

 compensated (not in tlie horse — v. supra) by tlie fat-splitting 

 power of the bile and the intestinal bacteria, the latter causing 

 proteid putrefaction at the same time. 



Disturbances of Respiration. 



The constant intake of oxygen and output of carbonic acid 

 gas is the first vital requirement of the cells of the animal 

 body. In foetal life this interchange of gases is performed by 

 means of the placental circulation, in post-natal life by the en- 

 trance of atmospheric air to the respiratory surfaces of the lungs; 

 and the red blood corpuscles act as essential agents in causing 

 the interchange. The inspiration of the atmospheric air and flie 

 output of that which has been rendered unfit, constituting what 

 is known as the external respiration, may be impaired by closure 



