398 General Notes. [ April, 
blood was drawn from each vessel, all albuminous matters were 
precipitated with great care, and the fluid remaining was tested, 
after concentration, as to its content of nitrogen. The author dis- 
cusses fully various methods employed in the separation of 
minute quantities of albuminous substances from complex mix- 
tures. The results of these experiments indicate a very consider- 
able destruction of peptone by the liver with the formation of a 
corresponding amount of a nitrogenous product of the decompo- 
sition. 
Seegen was led to the choice of peptone in his study from the 
fact that Schmidt-Miilheim had found that most of the albumi- 
destruction of peptones. In respect to the formation from pep- 
tones of carbohydrates by the liver, the author found that, in 
experiments performed in the manner described above, not only 
was the sugar content of the peptone-liver-blood increased 20-70 
per cent above the liver blood without peptone, but the total 
amount of carbohydrates was increased as well. The conclusion 
is reached that the function of the peptones, at least in carnivor- 
ous animals which are not changing in weight, is, for the most 
part, to give rise to the formation of sugar in the liver. 
In another article the same author discusses the influence of 
ees variation and nature of the food supply on the presence of sugar 
in the blood. In the hungering animal (dog), the blood of the 
hepatic vein is constantly richer in sugar than that of the portal 
vein, the relative amounts being nearly two to one. The forma- 
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= amount of sugar in the hepatic vein cannot therefore owe 15 
=~ existence directly to sugar entering the liver. $ 
_ The percentage of sugar in arterial blood is nearly constant in 
_ the various conditions of hunger, or when the animal is fed upon 
starch, dextrine or sugar; the blood from the carotid artery, how- 
ever, holds a slightly greater amount of sugar during the hours 
_ when sugar is being most rapidly absorbed from the alimentary 
canal. 
; The blood of the portal vein contains the same percentage of 
_ sugar on a starch diet as in hunger, but the sugar conten 
-increases when sugar is taken in the food, and to a still greater 
extent when a mixture of sugar and dextrine is eaten. The blood 
_ of the hepatic vein always contains a larger percentage of sugar 
