IX.—Iyerwvence or Bites, Bins Sarts anp Bite Acips on Amyto- 
LYTIC AND Prorrotytic Action.* By R. H. CaitrenpEN AND 
Gro. W. Cummins, Pu.B. 
Tue influence of bile and bile acids on the digestive processes of the 
intestinal canal has long been considered an important one, still few 
experiments have been made to determine the exact influence of these 
substances by themselves on ferment action. The form in which the 
main constituents of the bile exist in the intestinal canal depends 
naturally upon the reaction of the contents of the intestines. If 
these have an acid reaction, bile acids must be present; if alkaline, 
salts of these acids; and it is fair to presume that under these two 
conditions the presence of bile may be productive of different effects 
on ferment action. Recorded observations tend to show that ordi- 
narily the contents of the intestines possess a distinct acid reaction ; 
thus Schmidt-Miilheim+ has found that in dogs fed on albuminous 
matter, the contents of the small intestines are invariably acid, 
although the mucous membrane sometimes possesses an alkaline reac- 
tion. It is evident that in such cases the alkali of. the bile must 
have combined with the acid of the chyme, which would be followed 
by liberation of the bile acids and partial precipitation of the same 
in combination with the proteid matters of the chyme. Moreover, 
the recorded observations of Schmidt-Miilheim tend to show that 
this acid condition of the contents of the intestines persists through- 
out the entire length of the intestinal canal. Uffelmann{ has like- 
wise found, in corroboration of the above, that the faeces of infants 
naturally nourished possess 4 weak acid reaction, while, on the other 
hand, Nothnagel,§ as a result of 800 observations, finds that human 
excrement, in the case of adults, varies decidedly in its reaction, 
being generally alkaline, more rarely acid or neutral. It is hardly 
proper, therefore, to conclude that it is only necessary to study the 
* Also published in the American Chemical Journal, vol. vii, p. 36. 
+ Archiv fiir Physiologie, DuBois Reymond, 1879, p. 56. 
} Jahresbericht fiir Thierchemie, 1881, p. 305. 
§ Jahresbericht fir Thierchemie, 1881, p. 309. 
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