88 
FORMATION OF SUGAR IN THE LIVER. 
reports we should certainly conclude that the oil possesses all 
the useful properties of cod-liver oil. The evidence, to say 
the least, is sufficient to encourage a trial of the oil in this 
country, and we trust some Australian merchant will procure 
a supply without delay . — Medical Times and Gazette . 
CHLOROFORM NOT AN ANTIDOTE TO STRYCHNIA. 
A statement in the American journals having come 
under the notice of the Austrian Minister of the Interior, to 
the effect that chloroform acted as an effectual antidote to 
strychnia, he directed Professor Pilwax, of the Veterinary 
Institute, to investigate the subject. Accordingly, four dogs 
were poisoned by strychnia, and when the symptoms had 
become obviously developed, they were submitted to the 
influence of chloroform, and the results proved that the 
chloroform was worthless as an antidote . — Medical Times and 
Gazette . 
Extracts from British and Foreign Journals. 
ON THE FORMATION OF SUGAR IN THE LIYER. 
Much has been written of late respecting a function 
the liver is stated to possess of forming sugar, and many of 
the opinions entertained on this subject have been from 
time to time transferred to our pages, because we consider 
them to be of interest in a physiological point of view. 
Probably the first enquiry that arises in the mind v T ould 
be, — Whence are the elements obtained for the formation of 
this principle? And the answer, as probably v'ould be, — 
From the amylaceous or allied substances partaken of by the 
animal as food. M. Schmidt, however, considers the source 
to be the fatty matters in the blood; these becoming oxidated. 
M. Lehmann thinks that haematozine is split up into glucose, 
and a nitrogenous matter, with which it is intimately com- 
bined. M. Frerichs, of Breslau, refers them to the nitro- 
genized aliments ; while M. Claude Bernard, who appears to 
have originated the discovery, refers the production of sugar 
to catalytic action on the elements of the blood, induced by 
the tissue of the gland. 
