52 G. F. Barker—Physiological Chemistry. 
ing life causes a rapid disappearance of hepatine from the liver 
without any evidence of the production of sugar. 4th, That 
in this disappearance, the hepatine is not concealed, nor trans- 
ormed into sugar, nor destroyed by any direct chemical power 
possessed by the carbonated alkali ; but the facts suggest its 
transformation by a process like catalysis, the products yet es- 
caping discovery. 5th, That sodic carbonate injected into the 
liver after death, does not cause a disappearance of hepatine, but, 
even in moderate quantity, holds its change into sugar com- 
pletely in check. 6th, That there is probably a close connec- 
tion between the disappearance of the hepatine, the produc- 
tion of fat, and the state of the bile. 
.) On the ninth of December, G. CoLin communicated 
to the French Academy* a paper on the various conditions of 
the cellules of the liver, in their relation to the activity of 
glycogeny. According to the facts which have now been es- 
tablished, says the author in conclusion, it will be seen that 
the condition of the fat in the liver presents the following 
well characterized differences: Ist, in the herbivora, as the 
horse, the ox, and the sheep, the fatty matters collect in 
the cellules in large amount, and in the form of large drop- 
lets ; 2d, in the case of flesh-eaters, as the dog and the hedge- 
hog, the fat of the cellules is always much more finely divi- 
ded, and is not therefore easily distinguished from the fine 
granular corpuscles with which it is mixed ; and 3d, in birds, 
—where the hepatic cellules are very small,—and especially in 
fishes, the fat is extra-cellular in large part, and is entirely 
free in the tissue of the organ. These differences Colin does 
not attempt to explain fully, but suggests that the route which 
the products of intestinal absorption take in these’ classes of 
animals, may well be one of the principal causes. With ani- 
mals whose chyliferous system is highly developed, and whose 
enormous villosities are well arranged for absorbing fats, these 
take in great measure the channel of the lacteals and do not 
therefore traverse the liver in order to reach the general cireu- 
lation. With birds, on the contrary, and especially with fishes, 
in which the chyliferous system is atrophied, the portal vein 
takes almost the whole of the fatty matters brought into the 
intestine. They may therefore be arrested in the liver, and a 
large quantity be retai 
(66.) A memoir on the amyloid substance of the liver and 
its ultimate destination in the animal economy, was pre- 
sented to the Royal Society by Dr. McDonneLL, on the 
13th of February, 1863.¢ After a recapitulation of the views 
* ©. R., liii, 1063. _ + Proc. Roy. Soc., xii, 476. 
