The possible conversion of fat to carbohydrate in the mammalian body has been one of the most hotly contested problems in physiology.Nobody has yet brought forward evidence so convincing that his opponents on the other side of the argument have been compelled to yield ground. Very much of the so called evidence is worthless. It was with this conviction that the present writer persuaded certain of his pupils to take up the question and attempt to produce evidence which would be completely convincing, one way or the other. Three papers (1-3) already published have, it is believed, produced good evidence supporting the viewpoint of the late Professor Lusk, namely, that this conversion in the mammalian organism is at least extremely difficult and, under the conditions studied, not demonstrable.From a careful reading of the literature on the germination of the fatty seeds, it appeared that in this instance the evidence, so far as it has been developed, favors the conception that fat is converted to carbohydrate (sugar) for the obvious purpose of increased diffusibility. At all events, this has been the interpretation of botanical physiologists. Since two lines of proof for conversion in the organs of the dog (and cat) had failed so signally under critical examination (2, 3) the writer wondered whether the evidence for the fatty seeds could really be so convincing as it seemed. It was with this attitude of skepticism that the present study was undertaken.The problem has been approached from three directions: (1) the significance of the respiratory quotient during normal germination;
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