434 POISONING OF PIGS WITH BRINE. 
and that the decoction of a piece of it did not any longer yield 
a trace of sugar. When he examined the remainder of this 
liver after twenty-four hours, he found it to contain a very 
large amount of saccharine matter. From this simple experi- 
ment, frequently repeated with the same result, Bernard 
concludes, that the sugar is not formed, as other physiologists 
have suggested, by a kind of catalytic action, exercised by 
the glandular tissue on a constituent of the blood, while it 
circulates through the liver, but by the metamorphosis of a 
substance contained in the tissue of the liver itself. The 
same experiment shows, that this substance, which is to be 
transformed into sugar, is insoluble in water, in alcohol, and 
in ether; that its transformation into sugar is commonly 
effected within twenty-four hours ; that it is accelerated by 
pre-exposure to atmospheric air; and that, on the other hand, 
this faculty of undergoing the change in question, is occasioned 
by the process of boiling. Claude Bernard remarks, that in 
the state of health, this substance is constantly reproduced 
in the tissues of the liver, and as constantly afterwards trans- 
formed into saccharine matter. 
ON POISONING OF PIGS WITH BRINE. 
By H. Lepper, M.R.C.Y.S., Aylesbury. 
I was much pleased by observing in the Veterinarian for 
June, a report of the poisoning properties of brine, when given 
to the pig. 
As far back as the year 18 16, which I may date as the 
earliest period of my acquaintance with the diseases of 
animals, up to the present time, I have occasionally wit- 
nessed the destruction of pigs by brine, which has been gene- 
rally given to them as a portion of their food, and in total igno- 
rance of its injurious effects. At the time alluded to, I resided 
in the lower part of Kent, and the disease thus produced was 
there called staggers, and, strange as it may appear, was very 
erroneously supposed by the common people to arise from a 
bone said to be situated in the palatine portion of the mouth, 
and which it was necessary to remove to relieve the animal. 
There were many empirics who professed to cure by removing 
a portion of bone so situated, and called the u stagger-bone.” 
I have also known many healthy pigs undergo this operation 
as a preventive ; these cases being in this respect analogous 
to the e( worming ” of puppies to prevent their doing mischief 
