222 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



Fragments of the mucous membrane of the stomach of the 

 pig were digested at 40 Centigrade with two per cent, solu- 

 tions of grape sugar, cane sugar, milk sugar, and dextrin. 

 Lactic acid was formed, but the process was stopped at 100 

 Centigrade. Gastric juice, however, used in place of the 

 membrane, produced no such effect. From the fact that an 

 abundance of bacteria were developed at the same time, 

 Maly considered it quite clear that the formation of lactic 

 acid results from an organized and not from a chemical fer- 

 ment; and therefore that the production of lactic acid is not 

 a function of a living: membrane. This view is strengthened 



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by the fact that the fresh stomach of a dog, when digested 

 with a two per cent, solution of grape sugar, gave no acid un- 

 til after two days. Moreover, the stomach of a living dog 

 was emptied, milk of magnesia introduced, withdrawn after 

 an hour, and the magnesia dissolved determined ; then the 

 sugar solution was introduced with the magnesia, and the 

 experiment repeated. The same amount of dissolved mag- 

 nesia was found in both cases, showing that the living mem- 



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brane does not cause the formation of lactic acid from sugar. 



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The author maintains, therefore, that free lactic acid is absent 

 from gastric juice, and that hence, d fortiori, it does not de- 

 compose chlorides to set free hydrochloric acid. The source 

 of this latter acid in the gastric juice the author believes to 

 be dissociation. 33 C, CLXXIIL, 227. 



DECOMPOSITION OF CHLORAL HYDRATE IX THE SYSTEM. 



It was assumed by Liebreich, the discoverer of the pecul- 

 iar physiological action of chloral hydrate, that this sub- 

 stance, under the influence of the alkaline blood-serum, was 

 decomposed, yielding chloroform. Tanret has shown, how- 

 ever, that if a solution of chloral hydrate be mixed with an 

 alkaline solution of potassium permanganate, the liquid is 

 decolorized, a gas is evolved, and manganic oxide is precip- 

 itated. If the quantity employed be considerable, and the 

 temperature be kept from rising above 40 Centigrade, the 

 reaction is slow, and the filtered liquid will be found to con- 

 tain chloride, carbonate, and formate of potassium. The gas 

 evolved is carbonous oxide. The same reaction can be ef- 

 fected in very dilute solutions, and takes place even when 

 the alkalinity is produced by borax. From these data the 



