FORMATION OF SUGAR IN THE LIVER. 89 
In an article that has recently appeared in the Comptes 
Hendus, and which we abridge from The Chemist, M. C. 
Bernard says : 
“ The facts which I have published up to this time, appear 
to me of a nature to prove that we must understand quite 
otherwise the glucogenic function of the liver, and that, 
instead of seeking in the Hood the substance which precedes 
the sugar and immediately gives rise to it, it must be sought 
for in the hepatic tissue itself. 
“The following is an experiment that I have made, and 
which will elucidate this fact. I shall describe it somewhat 
in detail in order that its results, which appear to me very 
important and highly interesting to both physiologists and 
chemists, may easily be reproduced. 
“ I selected an adult, vigorous and healthy dog, which was 
fed for several days exclusively with meat, and I killed it by 
a section of the rachidin hull , seven hours after a plentiful 
meal of tripe. As soon as the abdomen was opened, the 
liver was removed, care being taken to avoid wounding its 
tissues, and this organ while still warm and before the blood 
had time to coagulate in its vessels, w r as washed with cold 
water by the vena porta . For that purpose I took a tube of 
gutta percha, about a yard in length, and having at its two 
extremities an adjustment of copper. The tube being pre- 
viously filled with water, one of its extremities was firmly 
fixed on the trunk of the vena porta at its entry into the liver, 
and the other was adjusted to the stop-cock of the laboratory 
fountain of the College of France. On opening the stop- 
cock, the water traversed the liver with great rapidity, for 
the force of the current of water was capable, as had been 
determined, of raising a column of mercury 127 centimetres 
(about 50 inches) in height. Under the influence of this 
energetic washing, the liver swelled up, its tissues became 
pale, and the blood was expelled with the water in a powerful 
and continuous jet by the hepatic veins. In a quarter of an 
hour, the tissue of the liver was almost exhausted of blood, 
and the water which issued from the hepatic veins was 
entirely colourless. I left this liver subjected to this con- 
tinued washing for about forty minutes without interruption. 
I proved at the commencement of the experiment, that the 
coloured water which issued from the hepatic veins was sac- 
charine, and precipitated abundantly by heat, and i found at 
the end of the experiment that the perfectly colourless water 
which issued from these same veins no longer contained any 
trace of albuminous matter or sugar. 
“ This liver was removed from the action of the current of 
