354 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



arm-pit marked 33 D ; in seven, less than 26; in two others 23, and 

 even 22, that is, 15 below the ordinary temperature. The tempera- 

 ture in several other diseases is also given by M. Roger. Comptes 

 Rendus, March 4. 



THE FUNCTIONS OF THE PANCREAS. 



THE report of the committee of the French Academy, appointed to 

 award the prize of experimental physiology for 1848, is contained in 

 the Comptes Rendus for March 4. They award the prize to M. Ber- 

 nard, and observe, " The successful memoir contains the important 

 and unexpected discovery of the functions of the pancreas in the com- 

 plicated and little understood process of digestion. It places beyond a 

 doubt the fact that the liquid secreted by the pancreas has the special 

 function of dissolving the fat of the food, and in general all neutral 

 fat, or more exactly vegetable and animal substances. The pancreatic 

 liquid possesses this property to such an extent, that if from any cause 

 its secretion is suspended, the fatty matter introduced into the stomach 

 with the food traverses the intestinal canal without undergoing the 

 least alteration. The author, not content with establishing this fact, 

 explains it as follows. It is known that for several years chemists 

 have directed their attention to different substances, which, when 

 placed in contact with certain bodies, present some peculiar reaction ; 

 such are the greater portion of animal matters, the ferment of the 

 gastric juice, &c. The memoir shows in the most satisfactory man- 

 ner that the dissolution of the fatty matter by the pancreatic juice is 

 produced by the aid of this mysterious mechanism, and that its only 

 agent is a ferment peculiar to the secretion of the pancreas. This 

 new matter, whose peculiar character is to dissolve very rapidly fatty 

 substances, may be obtained pure and preserved for some time without 

 losing any of its efficacy." 



NEW MODE OF ARRESTING INFLAMMATION. 



M. LATOUR recently communicated to the French Academy a 

 paper, in which he endeavoured to prove that any inflammation mani- 

 festing itself on the skin may be arrested by covering the inflamed in- 

 teguments with an adhesive compound capable of entirely preventing 

 the access of atmospheric air. He had used gum for covering the 

 parts, but now used collodium. Two cases of erysipelas were men- 

 tioned, which were thus cured in a few days. 



\ 



SECRETION OF MILK. 



M. LAMPERIERRE has exhibited to the French Academy an instru- 

 ment constructed by him, of India-rubber, an artificial mouth, as it 

 may be called, with a view to ascertain and determine the quan- 

 tity of milk secretion in the female breast. It is made to embrace the 

 nipple closely, and is provided with apparatus to rarefy or exhaust the 

 air so as to produce a vacuum. The conclusion to which the inventor 



