The Endocrine Control of the Blood Sugar

The study of diabetes mellitus in man and of experimental diabetes produced by various means in animals has already furnished a wealth of information on the nature of those chemical transformations in living cells that we term metabolism, and upon which all bodily function depends. Let me recall to you a few of these landmarks of our knowledge that have been established by observation and experiment on the diabetic organism. First, the recognition by physicians in several countries that the sweetness of diabetic urine was due to the presence of a sugar, later identified as glucose. Then the detection of beta-hydroxybutyric acid and acetoacetic acid as constituents of diabetic urine, which led in time to an appreciation of the nature of acidosis; the relationship between protein catabolism and glucose formation; and, of course, the recognition that there was an internal secretion of the pancreas provided by the islets of Langerhans.