Norman states that "Bernard's treatise, which he used to obtain his doctorate in science, disproved two current theories of animal metabolism: first, that animals cannot synthesize sugar; and second, that sugar in the blood only occurs in diabetic or otherwise unhealthy animals." His results were first communicated in two journal papers, "De l'Origine du Sucre dans l'Economie Animale" (1848) and "Sur une Nouvelle Fonction du Foie" (1850). "The information in these articles, augmented with a chapter on analogous investigations in invertebrates, formed the basis of his thesis. The thesis in its entirety, including his answers to the questions posed by the doctoral committee, was published the same year by L. Martinet ...." The work also appeared earlier in abbreviated form in the Comptes Rendus of the Académie des Sciences (Tome 31, 1850, pp. 571-574).