124 



Scientific Proceedings (82). 



grafts in addition to their probable relation to the normal growth 

 of the animal as a whole may also be related to the loss of one 

 of the spleen's functions in early life, through that function being 

 assumed by another tissue. 



The ease with which the spleen of young rabbits can be auto- 

 transplanted into the subcutaneous tissues might be utilized in 

 the study of its reactions or in chemical examinations, where 

 multiple or control spleens in accessible locations are needed. 



74 (1252) 



Chemical evidence for the presence of glycogen-like polysacchar- 

 ide in the liver blood of diabetic animals. 



By J. J. R. MACLEOD. 



[From the Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.] 



Histological evidence for the presence in the hepatic capillaries 

 of diabetic animals of material which stains by Best's carmine 

 method in the same manner as the glycogen present in the liver 

 cells (Huber and Macleod) has led us to investigate whether a 

 polysaccharide could be separated by chemical means from the 

 blood of the vena cava. In the first experiments of this nature 

 (with G. E. Simpson), the blood of the vena cava was collected 

 in excess of alcohol and the resulting precipitate treated with 

 KOH in the usual manner. From the hydrolysis mixture a small 

 amount of alcohol-precipitable material was secured, which after 

 purification gave a violet color with iodine and exhibited reducing 

 properties on hydrolysis. This material was sometimes isolated 

 from the blood of normal animals (etherized), as well as from that 

 of diabetic animals. In all cases, however, the yields were very 

 small and uncertain, so that I have recently changed the method 

 of isolation. Instead of precipitating with alcohol as the first step, 

 the blood is now received directly into saturated alkali. On ac- 

 count of the high cost of KOH, a series of preliminary experiments 

 were performed to see whether, after hydrolysis of the protein 

 and heating with NaOH, a solution would be obtained from 

 which the glycogen could be quantitatively precipitated by alcohol. 



