It is generally held that, except for changes in insulin activity, the usual clinical doses of cortisone have but slight effect on the carbohydrate metabolism of normal subjects. 1 " 4 Among the hundreds of patients treated with cortisone, only a very small number have shown diabetes, usually of transient nature. 5 By mathematical analysis of intravenous glucose tolerance tests, it is possible to calculate a "glucose assimilation coefficient" 6 and to detect thereby changes in carbohydrate metabolism, which are brought about by cortisone and which escaped other methods of investigation. (In studying cases of mild diabetes in which intravenous glucose tolerance tests were made together with fractionated glycosuria estimations, it has been shown that when the fasting blood sugar level lies between ioo and 150 mg. per 100 cc, by the Shaffer-Hartman method, the greatest part of the glycosuria occurs during the first 15 minutes of the test. Since our first sample was taken at 15 minutes, the curve measures only glucose assimilation. In diabetes, with the fasting blood sugar reaching the renal threshold, the curve is influenced by tissue assimilation and also by renal leakage.) METHODWhen glucose is injected rapidly into the veins, the blood sugar rises abruptly and reaches a peak within the first 5 minutes. Afterwards it falls, at first sharply, then at a more gradual rate. In normal subjects the glycemia usually reaches its previous value between

schen der Verschlcchterung dcr Xonstante der Glucoseutilisationsrate und der Geschwindigkeit des Prozesses zeigt, unabhgngig vonder Menge des vorhandenen oder zugefiihrten Insulins. Diese Ergebnisse lassen vermuten, da~ die StoffwechselstSrung bei der menschlichen Fettsucht primer eher den Proze~ der Glueoseaufnahme selbst als die Insulinwirkung betrifft.

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