It is a well known fact that surgical wounds tend to heal slowly or not at all in the patient with uncontrolled diabetes. In this phenomenon, one of the surgeons at the Montreal General Hospital, Dr. A. T. Bazin, had the impression that an explanation might be found of nonhealing wounds met with in apparently nondiabetic patients and suggested an investigation of the carbohydrate metabolism in such cases. The experience with the first case so investigated was previously reported.1 Briefly, the findings, as reported by Dr. Bazin, were as follows:
A female, aged 47, was admitted on Oct. 14, 1924, with an indolent ulcer on the dorsum of the right foot. In August she had suffered a slight abrasion of that area which became infected. The involved area rapidly spread and, in spite of active treatment, the skin sloughed over an area of 5 by 4 inches. After an