S. Kuriyama 195 
desiccated thyroid, mixed with 2 gm. of paste, was given in the 
afternoon, and after this food was eaten, 10 gm. of paste were 
put in the cage. On the last day of the experiment, 1 gm. of 
paste with desiccated thyroid was given at 9 p.m. After this 
was eaten, 1 gm. of paste and a certain amount of sucrose, mixed 
with a small amount of water, were given. At 9 the next morn- 
ing the animal was killed and the liver glycogen determined. As 
control experiments, a few rats were fasted for 72 hours. At 
the end of this period, a certain amount of paste or sucrose 
was given to some of them, the rest still kept fasting. 12 hours 
later all the animals were killed and the liver glycogen was de- 
termined. Neither thyroid-fed, nor control animals showed any 
diarrhea. The results are detailed in Tables I and II. Rats 
III, IV, and V in Table II are the same animals which were 
shown in this Journal!° The body weight of these three was 
taken at the end of the 72 hour fasting. In calculating the 
calories of the food of the last experimental day, the dog biscuit- 
lard mixture, designated as ‘‘paste,’’ was considered to have 5 
calories per gm., desiccated thyroid 4.1 calories per gm. 
As will be seen in these tables, the storage of glycogen in the 
liver of thyroid-fed rats is much less than in fasted rats. In 
some thyroid-fed rats, however, the liver was able to store a 
noteworthy amount of glycogen. A 72 hour fast decreases the 
liver glycogen to the minimum; and a small amount of paste or 
sucrose was enough to make it reappear abundantly within 12 
hours. During the same length of time, the thyroid-fed rats 
ingested several times as many calories as the fasted animals. 
Rudinger’ reported that in Graves’ disease the oxidation of 
protein is abnormally increased and the administration of too 
much protein accelerates the activity of the thyroid, while the 
diet with a large‘amount of carbohydrate has a counter effect, the 
hyperfunction of the thyroid being retarded by an antagonis- 
tic action of the accelerated pancreatic function. According to 
Cramer and McCall,? the oxidation of carbohydrate is also in- 
creased in hyperthyroidism. Investigating the respiratory gas 
10 Kuriyama, S., and Mendel, L. B., J. Biol. Chem., 1917, xxxi, 136. 
11Rudinger, K., Wien. klin. Woch., 1908, xxi, 1581. 
