The physiology of the carbohydrates : an epicriticism / by F.W. Pavy.

  • Pavy, F. W. (Frederick William), 1829-1911.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The physiology of the carbohydrates : an epicriticism / by F.W. Pavy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

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    assumption that the liver is endowed with a glyco- genic function. As my work is incompatible with this assumption, to make the road clear it was disposed of, as the following words from the 'Edinburgh Medical Journal ' show :— At the beginning of my paper on Hepatic Glycogenesis, published last winter, before the appearance of Dr. Pavy's work, I said, ' That one of the great functions of the liver is to produce sugar will not, at the present time, be denied by any physiologist,' and added in a foot-note, ' The theory of Pavy, repeated in nearly every text-book, that the liver is a sugar-destroying, and not a sugar-forming organ, rests on so unsubstantial a basis, and has been so completely refuted by the work of Seegen and other investigators, that it need not be considered.' As Dr. Paton's views and mine cannot exist to- gether, either one or the other must fall. My book followed Dr. Paton's paper, and it took the ground from underneath it. As an act, therefore, of self- defence, it became necessary that an effort should be made to overthrow it. But Dr. Paton from his lofty position condescendingly says, To let these statements [the above-mentioned statements in his paper ] stand after the publication of Dr. Pavy's book would be marked discourtesy, and I am there- fore glad of an opportunity of bringing forward the evidence upon which they were made. This evi- dence I will take point by point, and by the time I have finished I think I shall have shown that upon no single point does Dr. Paton succeed in touching, much less shaking, my position. His evidence