The relation of the pancreas to diabetes mellitus was proved in 1889 when Von Mering and Minkowski discovered that fatal diabetes always followed complete pancreatectomy. Two principal hypotheses have been advanced to explain how the pancreas is linked with carbohydrate metabolism, viz., the detoxication and the internal secretion theories. In the former the pancreas is supposed to remove a toxic substance from the blood stream, the presence of which interferes with the oxidation of carbohydrates by the tissues; in the latter the pancreas is said to contribute something to the blood stream which acts as a necessary link in the process of carbohydrate assimilation. Attempts to establish either of these theories have met with little success although the preponderance of evidence to date seems to favor the theory of an internal secretion. Notwithstanding a vast amount of experimentation the exact role of the pancreas in carbohydrate metabolism remains unknown.
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