KATABOLISM. 440 



into glycogen before turning into C0 2 ; (2) that albu- 

 minoid excess and waste are changed into leucomaines 

 before splitting, and, when split, glycogen is the com- 

 bustible result. 



If this view be true, then glycogeny is indeed a most 

 fundamental function, and its failure must sap the vital- 

 ity of the body in a marked degree. I believe that this 

 is shown in glycosuria or diabetes. 



Cause of Diabetes. — This very grave and obscure 

 disease, in which sugar in large quantities is excreted by 

 the kidneys, is marked by extreme failure of vitality. 

 At first it was supposed that the kidney was at fault, 

 but, on the contrary, it does all it can to help the patient. 

 Sugar in large quantity in the blood is hurtful. The 

 kidneys remove it. Then it was supposed that the lungs 

 were at fault. The lungs, it was said, failed to take in 

 oxygen enough to burn up the sugar, and therefore it 

 must be excreted by the kidney. But not so, for in 

 these cases the blood seems to be sufficiently oxidized. 

 Then it was supposed that the fault lay in the liver, 

 which was thought to make too much sugar, more than 

 the lungs could burn. According to my view, the liver 

 is indeed in fault, but not in that way. Not by too 

 much sugar-making, but by too little glycogen-making. The 

 sugar from the intestines is not arrested and dehy- 

 drated in the liver, but passes right through and floods 

 the general circulation, and therefore must be removed 

 by the kidneys. Probably also the leucomaines are not 

 split as promptly as they ought to be, and remain to 

 poison the blood. There is therefore an inadequate 

 supply of liver sugar, which is the necessary fuel of the 

 body. It is easily seen, then, why this disease is char- 

 acterized by low vitality. 



Recently another cause has been assigned for this 

 disease — a cause very important in relation to the whole 



