STARCH FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
25 
sorbing carbon, in either case carbonic acid is the result, 
which by its action on the living organism produces anaes- 
thesia. This theory, though not actually susceptible of 
demonstration, is yet apparently based on a logical founda- 
tion, and finds a seeming confirmation in a number of well- 
known facts ; indeed it was elicited by the allusions made 
to the anaesthetic properties of carbonic acid, bv Professor 
Simpson, in his recent paper, of which I gave an account 
in my previous letter. — Med. and Stirg. Reporter. 
STARCH PROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
By Dr. Pavy. 
At a meeting of the Medical Society of London, on Satur- 
day, October 10, 1857, Dr. Pavy exhibited some of the 
newly-discovered amylaceous material which is obtainable 
from the healthy liver, and which forms the source of the 
animal sugar. In referring to the history of the saccharine 
secretive function of the liver, Dr. Pavy stated that, upon 
the announcement of the discovery by Bernard, in 1848, that 
sugar was formed in the animal body, it was referred to a 
transformative action of the liver on an albuminous consti- 
tuent of the portal blood. The celebrated experiment of 
puncturing the floor of the fourth ventricle, and establishing 
diabetes, rather supported this view ; for it was thought that 
the irritation of the nervous centre stimulated the secretory 
action of the liver, and led to the production of a super- 
abundance of sugar, which, accumulating in the circulatory 
system, was pumped off by the kidneys, and thus appeared 
in the urine. The next step of information removed the 
direct influence of the nervous system, and showed that the 
production of sugar could not be regarded as analogous to 
the process of secretion. In September, 1855, in fact, Ber- 
nard announced, at the Academie des Sciences, that the 
formation of sugar continued for as many as twenty-four 
hours after death in a liver from which the blood had been 
entirely removed. If, for instance, the liver of a healthy 
animal be removed immediately after death, and a current 
of water be injected from the portal vein through its vessels, 
the whole of the blood is washed out, and the organ is also 
quickly deprived of the saccharine material it contained. 
Now, if such a liver be placed on one side and examined in a 
few hours 5 time, it will be found to have become strongly 
xxxi. 4 
