340 
be supposed that the lipolysis, in this case, depended on bacteria and not 
on the lipase of the pancreas. It came forth also when 10 cc. of 
toluol was added to the fluid and it was arrested without toluol 
even when the quantity of acid was extremely small. The greatest 
amount of acid was in a great number of experiments found to be 
still less than */,,, normal. SÖHNGEN*) found that the activity of the 
lipase of bacteria can be destroyed only by */;, 7 lactic acid. 
Rosennem holds that the fact that the lipase of the pancreas remains 
active even without addition of co-enzyme, is to be ascribed to its 
not being sufficiently purified. Considering that electrolytes had been 
all but completely removed from the lipase prepared by me, and 
again that the electrolytes of the pancreas (more especially the cal- 
cium salts) are alone sufficient to aid the activity of the lipase, I 
have tried to find another plausible explanation. 
Since several observers have demonstrated that lipase, including that 
of the pancreas, is able not only to split fat but also to synthetize 
fat from fatty acid and glycerin, we may be justified in supposing 
that the action of this enzyme consists in favouring an equilibrium 
reaction, a supposition borne up by Dietz’s?) laborious investigations. 
Now, when the lipase decomposes oil in presence of calcium salt, 
it is very remarkable that, while the bottles are being turned round 
in the thermostat, a considerable amount of calcium soap is carried 
out of solution, partly as a solid precipitate lining the wali of the 
bottle, partly as gelatinous lumps in the liquid. It is therefore per- 
missible to conclude, that fat-splitting is stopped as soon as a small 
quantity of fatty acid has been separated; again, that in consequence 
of this the lipolysis in the salt-free solution is indeed not wanting, 
but that it soon ceases; and finally, that the action of the calcium 
salt results in separating the fatty acid in insoluble condition, as it 
is set free. 
The following experiments will illustrate the influence of CaCl,. 
Every bottle contained 1 cc. of lipase in 50 cc. of water with 
pbenolphthalein and just enough soda to evolve a very light pink 
colour of the fluid. After six hours’ shaking in the thermostat at 
38° C. the following results were arrived at by titration: 
t : without adiiten= er Geen ae Seer! ; NaHO 
with 2-6 Cath ein viet ele ee, ee ee 5 
Il without addition EE ps Set et ieee es 
1) Folia microbiologica. I, p. 199. 
2) Zeitschr. f. Physiol, Chem. Bd. LU, S. 279. 
