SOURCE OF THE ACIDITY OF THE GASTKIC JUICE. 24:5 



These experiments are considered by Bernard as positive 

 proof that the acid of the gastric juice is the lactic ; and the 

 fact " seems to him to be at the present day beyond contes- 

 tation." The facts adduced by Lehmann, however, are even 

 stronger. By operating upon a large quantity of gastric juice, 

 he has been enabled to form the lactates in such quantity 

 that he was enabled to subject them to ultimate analysis, and 

 determine positively the nature of the acid. He found that 

 the acid had the composition of lactic acid formed from 

 sugar, and not that of the acid formed from the juice of the 

 muscular tissue. 1 



In view of the facts above mentioned, and the somewhat 

 uncertain basis on which the supposition of the presence of 

 free hydrochloric acid is founded, it seems almost certain 

 that the principal free acid of the gastric juice is the lactic. 

 It is important to remember that while the experiments of 

 Bernard and Lehmann were made on gastric juice from the 

 dog, they have been confirmed, in their essential particulars, 

 by the recent observations of Prof. F. G. Smith on the nor- 

 mal gastric juice from the human subject. 2 



It now remains only to discuss the question of the exist- 

 ence in the gastric juice of the acid phosphate of lime, to 

 the exclusion altogether of free acids; a theory first proposed 

 by Blondlot in 1843, and entertained and defended by him, 

 as late as 1858, notwithstanding the fact that this view has 

 met with no favor hi the physiological world. 3 



1 Loc. tit. 



2 F. G. SMITH, Experiences sur la Digestion. Journal de la Physiologic, Paris, 

 1858, tome i., p. 144 ; and Philadelphia Medical Examiner, July and September, 

 1856. 



s In a paper devoted entirely to the question of the acid principle of the 

 gastric juice (Nouvelles Recherches Chimiques sur la Nature etVOrigine du Prin- 

 cipe Acide gui domine dans le Sue Gastrique, Paris, 1851, p. 4), Blondlot 

 acknowledges that he remains almost alone in his opinion ; for, with the excep- 

 tion of Dumas, " who, while admitting the presence of free lactic acid, tacitly 

 declares that the existence of the biphosphate of lime cannot be mistaken," all 

 authors oppose his view. In the page referred to by Blondlot (DUMAS, Traite 



