Page:Defensive Ferments of the Animal Organism (3rd edition).djvu/99

 rotation, the cane sugar being converted into invert sugar. The, latter consists of one molecule of grape sugar and one molecule of fruit sugar; that is, of the units of the disaccharide, cane sugar. Since the fruit sugar turns more to the left than the grape sugar does to the right a ﬁnal rotation results to the left. Many observations point to the fact that, at the same time, part of the products of the decomposition suffer further disintegration.

Parenteral introduction of cane sugar does not always succeed in effecting the appearance of invertin in the blood plasma. Obviously, the time during which the disharmonious substance remains in the blood plays an important part in the formation of the defensive ferments. The cane sugar is very quickly excreted through the kidneys.

The following examples will give an idea of the results of these experiments:—

(I) A dog was given subcutaneous injections of cane sugar (5 gr. at a time) on October 22 and 23. The blood taken on October 24 was used for testing