J. LeConte—Glycogenic function of the Liver. 99 
Art. XIV.—Some thoughts on the Glycogenie function of the 
Liver and its relation to vital force and vital heat; by JosEPH 
L 
[Read before the National Academy of Sciences, New York, October, 1877.] 
THE great size of the liver and its persistence as a conspicu- 
ous organ, as we go down the animal scale even to a very low 
position, clearly demonstrate the great importance of its func- 
tions. This conclusion is entirely confirmed by the very grave 
effects on the health produced by its disorders. But in spite of 
its acknowledged importance, great obscurity still hangs about 
the true nature of its functions. The function of the liver is 
not simple, like that of the lungs or the kidneys, but very 
complex. The liver isthe manufactory of both bile and sugar. 
The bile is both a secretion used in the digestive preparation 
of food, and an exeretion, separating poisonous matters 
the blood. The sugar, too, has doubtless as many and as com- 
e€ ‘ 
usually acknowledged facts connected with this function. 
1. The portal blood of flesh-fed animals contains no sugar, 
but the same blood, after passing through the liver, i e., the 
blood of the hepatic vein, contains always a notable quan- 
tity of this substance. Evidently, therefore, i is manufactured 
in the liver. 
veins until every trace of sugar is removed, and then the liver 
be allowed to stand a while, on recommencing the transmission 
of water the first that passes is decidedly sugary. The same pro- 
cess may be repeated several times with the same result, until 
the material out of which the sugar is made is finall exhausted. 
8. If the liver of any animal be kept a considerable time 
before cooking, the amount of sugar which accumulates in its 
