RELATIONS BETWEEN ALIMENTARY AND DIABETIC GLYCOSURIA.

There is considerable contrariety of opinion as to the significance of glycosuria as it appears variously in relation with the taking of certain foods, the use of certain drugs, exposure to certain gases, the coexistence of definite disease of brain, pancreas and liver, and finally apart from any appreciable textural or organic alteration. Glucose in appreciable amounts can scarcely be looked upon as a physiologic constituent of the urine, and its appearance must be considered as evidence of a defect in metabolism, and its transiency or permanency and its association or not with other phenomena of greater or less gravity, will constitute an index of its significance. If we were asked to attempt a distinction between glycosuria and diabetes, we would base it on the analogy between albuminuria and nephritis. The one is a symptom of the other, a most distinctive symptom it is true, but it may exist independently.