256 RR. H. Chittenden—Dehydration of Glucose. 
method of treatment was applied to a known solution of maltose with 
satisfactory results, viz: a rapid and complete change into dextrose 
as attested by the proper proportional increase in reducing power. 
Furthermore, we are led to infer from Pavy’s results that the action 
of the ferment is to be seen to the best advantage in the rabbit. 
Thus Pavy states,* that without having made any precise compara- 
tive observations, ‘I am under the impression that the stomach and 
the intestine of the rabbit act more energetically than the stomach 
and intestine of the other animals I have tried. It also appears to 
me that the stomach acts more energetically than the intestine, and 
in some instances I have noticed that the effect produced, has stood 
in relation to the amount of ferment material used.” The latter half 
of this statement would tend to indicate that the main reason for our 
not recovering all of the glucose is to be found either in a lack of 
sufficient washing of the tissue residue at the end of the experiment, 
or else in a slight fermentation by which a portion of the sugar 
might be decomposed ; for as is to be noticed in nearly all of the ex- 
periments recorded here, far less sugar is lost in the stomach than in 
the intestine, whereas if due to change in reducing power from the 
action of a dehydrating ferment, the greatest loss, Pavy’s statement 
being correct, would be observed by contact with the stomach tissue. 
On the contrary, our results show greatest loss in the intestine, which 
if due to mechanical reasons would be naturally explained, since the 
glairy mass of tissue, even after boiling, affords mechanical obstacles 
to a thorough extraction. That this is doubtless the true explana- 
tion, in part at least, is evidenced by the fact that a portion of the 
stomach or intestine, previously boiled with water to destroy its 
vitality, yields results after the same order as those already given, 
except that the amount of sugar recovered is greater, as would nat- 
urally be expected since the tissue being already coagulated would 
not enclose the sugar so completely. Thus, on warming one-half of a 
rabbits’ stomach, previously divided and boiled with water, with 0°200 
gram of glucose for two hours, there was recovered 0°1910 gram of 
the glucose; while from a portion of the small intestine, likewise ~ 
boiled and treated with the same amount of glucose, there was recoy- 
ered only 0°1840 gram of the sugar. Furthermore, fermentation of 
the sugar would naturally occur more quickly in the intestines than 
in the more compact stomach tissue. Be that as it may, the reduc- 
ing power of neither solution was affected by boiling with dilute sul- 
phuric acid. 
* Chemical News, vol. xlix, p. 141. 
