It is interesting to note in connection with these experiments the secretion of sugar into the stomach which followed the intravenous infusion of NaCl solution. Ordinarily in the normal rabbit only a very small quantity of fluid can be obtained from the stomach. This was not found in my experiments to contain sugar. In one case after the infusion of 470 c.c. NaCl solution the stomach contained about 40 c.c. of fluid. In a second instance 32.8 c.c. of fluid were secreted by the stomach during 2 hours and 30 minutes, during which time 390 c.c. NaCl solution were injected. In both these experiments sugar, which was not present in the beginning, appeared in considerable quantities after the infusion had continued for a little time. Thus the stomach excretes sugar under circumstances similar to those under which it is excreted by the intestine. Claude Bernard[75] describes the presence of sugar in the gastric contents of diabetic patients. He quotes McGregor as having made the observation by causing patients to vomit. On examination of the gastric contents sugar was demonstrated. It seems possible that in this case the food might have contained a reducing substance. Thus a study of the effect of saline infusions on the intestine leads us to the idea of the alimentary canal as in some sense a subsidiary excretory organ. In addition to its other better known functions, the intestine can to some extent take on some of the functions of the kidney. As shown above, it not only tends to eliminate an excess of fluid forced into the circulation, but also excretes urea and uric acid. Further, under circumstances which cause glycosuria, sugar is also excreted by the intestine. FOOTNOTES: [62] Arch. de physiol. norm. et path., 4 e série, 2, 1888, p. 93; 5 e série, 1, 1889, p. 253. [63] Arch. für exp. Path. u. Pharm., Bd. XXXVI, S. 293, 1895. [64] Arch. für exp. Path. u. Pharm., Bd. XLII, S. 250, 1899. [65] MACCALLUM, J. B.: University of California Publications, Physiology, Vol. I, 1904, p. 125. [66] Leçons sur les propriétés physiologiques et les altérations pathologiques des liquides de l’organisme, II Tome, Paris, 1859. Deuxième Leçon. [67] Archiv für die gesammte Physiologie, Bd. 61, 1895, p. 378. [68] _Loc. cit._ [69] Chemische Centralblatt, Leipzig, Bd. II, 1895, S. 310. [70] BOCK and HOFFMANN: Arch. für Anat., Physiol. und wissenschaftl. Med. (Reichert und DuBois-Reymond), p. 550, 1871. [71] KÜLZ: C. Eckhard’s Beiträge, Bd. 6, S. 117, 1872. (Quoted by Pflüger, Arch. für die gesammte Physiologie, Bd. 96, 1903, S. 313.) [72] M. H. FISCHER: University of California Publications, Physiology, Vol. I, pp. 77 and 87, 1904. [73] LOEB, J.: Festschrift für Fick, 1899; Pflüger’s Archiv, 1902, XCI, p. 248. [74] MACCALLUM, J. B.: University of California Publications, Physiology, Vol. I, 1904, p. 125. [75] Leçons sur les propriétés physiologiques des liquides de l’organisme, T. II, 1859, p. 74. CHAPTER IX.