DIABETES MELLITUS SIMULATING GASTRO-INTESTINAL DISEASE.

We have scarcely advanced in our knowledge of the nature of diabetes mellitus beyond a recognition of the fact that the disorder represents a derangement of carbohydrate metabolism which may be of multiple or of complex origin. It appears that in health there exists a mechanism through the operation of which the entrance into the blood and thence into the urine of the products of carbohydrate metabolism is prevented, while under certain other conditions this barrier is broken down, with the development of glycosuria or diabetes of varying degrees of persistence and severity. While diabetes is characterized by a more or less definite train of symptoms, the clinical picture is by no means always distinctive, so that the value and the importance of systematic examination of the urine can not be overestimated. In a recent communication, Dr. Emil Schütz¹ calls attention to a group of cases of diabetes mellitus