Patients with mild diabetes often have a fresh look and a rosy face, and very frequently look much younger than they are. We believe that the healthy working condition of their thyroids has something to do with this fact. The pancreas is a very important organ for the maintenance of life as it produces certain bodies (enzymes) which are of enormous importance in the assimilation of food. One of these bodies (they are three in number), helps the assimilation of albuminous products and is called trypsin. It also plays an important rôle in the treatment of cancerous growths. Besides this the pancreas produces an enzyme that helps the assimilation of the carbohydrates (amylopsin) and another that is indispensable for the perfect assimilation of fat (steapsin). As we have shown by experiments made in the laboratory of Professor Minkowski (then in Cologne), the pancreas stands in definite relation to the thyroid. These two glands seem to be antagonistic to one another, for on extirpation of the pancreas of three dogs, thus rendering them diabetic, in every case the thyroid showed a condition of hyperactivity, whereas in one case, after previous extirpation of the thyroid, the pancreas showed an enormous number of islands of Langerhans—(thirty-six to forty in one field).[133] Footnote 133: Comptes-Rendus de la Société de biologie, Paris, 25 Mars, 1904. It was also of great interest, that each diabetic dog ceased to eliminate sugar two days after extirpation of the thyroid. As with the thyroid, the pancreas has also very important relations with the liver. Dr. Steinhaus found, in a research conducted in the laboratory of Professor Minkowski, that in a large number of cases of hepatic cirrhosis there were also similar changes in the pancreas. Similar observations have also been made by Opie, Amato, Kliffel and Lefas,[134] and others. This may be the reason that in diseases of the liver we have had good results from the administration of pancreatic extract. In every case we have found a better assimilation of food, and especially a better appetite. This stomachic effect of pancreatic extracts we have found in nearly every case and even when the patients were not suffering from pancreatic or hepatic disease. (See also Chapter LIV.) Footnote 134: Revue de médecine, 23, 1903. Still more than the pancreas is the liver indispensable for the maintenance of life. It destroys the deadly poisons which are conveyed to it by the portal vein for neutralization. Besides this it produces certain bodies which help to destroy poisons arising from the decomposition of albuminous food. (See also Chapter XIII.)