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Scientific Proceedings (129) 



normal after four hours and probably above normal after six 

 hours. Our samples from this group were drawn after the 

 morning injection so that the last previous dosage was thus 

 14 hours removed. That such previous injection did not affect 

 the sugar values as obtained under this lighter dosage is in- 

 dicated by the curve itself. This point is further checked by 

 results from the group of 3 birds given only a single injection 

 and whose sugar tested normal or above normal at 16 hours. 

 This group of three ring doves, each injected with one-sixth 

 unit of a very fresh and somewhat more potent extract (Lot 2) 

 than that given to the group of 10 ring doves, gave lower 

 values after one hour (62 mgms.) than did eight birds (82) 

 of the other group which were injected with Lot 1. 



Four ring doves given 10 to 30 times the "lethal" dose for the 

 rabbit (Lot 2 used) lowered the sugar value (55) at two hours 

 much more than did the smaller (lethal XI) dosage (97). 

 Moreover, with the heavy dosage the sugar remained low (55) 

 at four and at six hours. After 21 hours the curve indicates 

 (148) a return to normal value (150) ; but the figures obtained 

 from the individual birds show that neither of the seven birds 

 for which data for this 19-21 hour period are available was even 

 approximately normal; the figures obtained were: 25, 45, 95, 

 110, 230, 235, 240 mgms. per 100 c.c. of blood. The four 

 lower values were obtained from birds given the highest dosage 

 — 30 times lethal; the three higher values were from birds given 

 10 (2 cases) or 20 times the lethal dose. The sugar was not 

 determined at the one-hour period in these heavily dosed birds. 

 The low values (20 and 30 mgms.) shown by two birds at the 

 two-hour interval, and the wide difference between the values 

 obtained from low and high dosage at the two-hour interval, to- 

 gether with the demonstrated lower level at one hour than at 

 two, where both were measured strongly suggest that extremely 

 low sugar values obtain at this one-hour period under high 

 dosage. At this particular period, however, the heavily dosed 

 bird shows few or no wide departures from the normal in ap- 

 pearance or behavior. Only one of this group of birds died 

 (after 28-34 hours) ; its sugar value after 21 hours was 25 

 mgms. Nearly all of our data from ring doves indicate that 

 heavy insulin dosage causes a very rapid and nearly complete 

 depletion of the blood sugar — to a point not higher than one- 

 sixth its normal value; that this is usually followed by a some- 



