190 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess. 
The time required to make one blood-sugar estimation by Bang’s method 
is rather long, but if several have to be made the average time required for 
each estimation is 10 minutes. In addition to this, about 8 minutes 
are occupied in weighing the blood and coagulating it, so that the average 
whole time required for one of a series of estimations is somewhat under 
20 minutes. The only piece of special apparatus required is a micro-burette. 
The method of Bang has this further advantage that it is as applicable 
to the estimation of glucose in urine as in blood. Bertrand’s method of 
glucose estimation is not satisfactory for urine, as some urinary constituents 
keep cuprous oxide in solution. In studying the variation of urine sugar 
with blood sugar, the gain in being able to use the same method for the 
estimation of both is obvious. 
The following experiment will serve to illustrate the points brought 
out in the foregoing paper. It was one of a series performed to find how 
the blood sugar varied as compared with the urine sugar when a known 
considerable excess of glucose had been administered. The subject was a 
young adult whose sugar metabolism was normal. He received 280 gm. 
of glucose by the mouth, specimens of blood and urine having been 
obtained 10 minutes before the commencement of the experiment in order 
to determine their normal sugar content. Specimens of blood and urine 
were thereafter taken at intervals during the next few hours. The blood 
sugar was estimated in the manner already described. For the estimation 
of sugar in the urine the latter was diluted in proportions varying from 
1 in 10 to 1 in 80, according to the amount of sugar present, and 2 c.c. 
of the diluted urine were used for each estimation. 
The results of the experiment are shown in the annexed table : — 
J. C., 1st July 1915. 
280 gm. glucose at 12 noon. 
Time. 
Blood Sugar 
per cent. 
Time. 
Urine Sugar 
per cent. 
11.50 
T20 
11.50 
•085 
12.40 
•284 
12.35 
T51 
1.10 
•270 
1.5 
•909 
1.45 
•245 
1.45 
1*305 
2.40 
T89 
2.45 
•852 
3.30 
•186 
3.30 
•740 
4.30 
T86 
4.35 
•629 
It will thus be seen that the blood sugar rises very rapidly, having 
reached or probably passed its maximum by the time that the first specimen 
