When we have brought a woman into such a condition that she excretes no sugar, and by the continuation of the same diet keep her permanently in that condition, the ovule which is being developed in her organism will develop itself correspondingly. Also with this diet the different qualities of the organism may not be altogether without influence on the course of the ovum’s development.
In many cases the quantity of sugar in the urine excreted does not diminish. The most different kinds of diet may be tried, and yet the phenylhydrazin test will always show the presence of sugar. Individuals of this sort exhibit a certain obstinacy in resisting the attempt to procure an alteration of the metabolism. In such cases no influence has been exerted over the development of the ovum.
In these experiments which are made with the mother, not only is the ovum influenced which is being developed for fertilization in the maternal organism, but it is also possible for the mother herself, in consequence of the alteration of diet, to experience many changes with regard to the physical peculiarities of the elements which compose her body.
The treatment may prove highly beneficial to the mother herself, so that not ovulation alone is subjected to an alteration, but the activity of the processes of the tissues of the other organs of the body may be also simultaneously in some way changed. And here may come into consideration many other factors which may produce a particular fitness for procreation and for the development of the ovum, and, if they once make themselves felt, may be of the greatest advantage to the mother.
The formation of the insignificant quantity of sugar in the body goes on of itself regularly, without it being possible to perceive any consequent striking alterations in the organism. The manner in which sugar is formed in the body under normal conditions has in recent years been thus explained.
The sugar contained in the blood in healthy persons is reckoned as not higher than about 0.15 per cent. In those who suffer from diabetes it may rise to 0.44 per cent. If sugar is present in the blood, that it passes thence into the urine can be easily explained, seeing that the excreted products of decomposition from the blood pass into the urine. Thus the sugar results from a portion of the food which is transformed into sugar, and so passes into the portal vein. (Strümpell.)
There exists also in the liver and muscles a non-nitrogenous substance, glycogen, which is detected also in other organs. This glycogen probably arises partly from the carbo-hydrates of the food, but certainly from the albuminous substances taken with the food, which, when broken up, separate into nitrogenous products and glycogen.
When the glycogen is once formed, we may regard it as an intermediate substance which is changed into sugar, probably by a saccharine fermentation, and then can reach the blood. How glycogen is transformed into sugar within the organism is unknown. Normally occurring sugar results from glycogen.