T! Moh'X 105 



tioii of these enz.ymes.'''' Tumors also contain nuclease^* to disinte- 

 {^rate their nucleic acid, and the same outfit of purine-splitting en- 

 zymes as normal tissues,-'"' so that in rep:ard to the nucleoproteins of 

 tumors autolysis follows the same course as in normal tissues. 



The non-cancerous livers of cancerous patients were found by Yous- 

 souf •'" to jiroduce more lactic acid duringr antiseptic autolysis than 

 did livers in other conditions. Autolysis of orfjans of cancer patients 

 is about as rapid as normal ( Cohvell "' ). Several observations have 

 sugrp-ested that tumor tissues mig-ht contain ])r()teolytic enzymes dif- 

 fering from those of normal tissues especially in their ability to di- 

 gest heterologous normal tissues, ])ut at present this work needs con- 

 firmation and amplification before it can carry the weight of specula- 

 tion which has been heaped upon it.''- 



^licheli and Donati ■■' attribute the hemolytic properties possessed 

 by extracts of malignant tumors to the products of autolysis that are 

 present, which Petry has also demonstrated to produce hemolysis. 

 Emerson *° attributes the disappearance of HCl from the gastric 

 juice in carcinoma of the stomach to neutralization by basic products 

 of autolysis, a hypothesis that nmy well be questioned. (See also 

 "Tumors," Chap, xvii.) 



Varioiis other intracellular enzymes have been described, -wliich for the most 

 part iiave as yet no significanee in pathology. An exception is fiJn-ln fcnnent, 

 which will be considered fully in discussing thrombosis. Ferments coagulating 

 milk seem to be widely spread in the tissues. The precipitation of plastein from 

 proteose solution by organ extracts (Xiirnberg) may be either the effect of a 

 coagulating ferment or due to reverse action of the proteases. Ferments s[)lit- 

 ting specifically maltose, lactose, sucrose, glucosides. and nucleoproteins have 

 been described, and the glycogenolytic ferment is probably nearly universallv pres- 

 ent. Other enzymes decomposing amino-acids into ammonium compounds may 

 also exist. The enzymes acting specifically upon the nucleic acids and the ])urine 

 bodies are discussed in Chapter xxi. 



33 See Jacques and ^Yoodyatt, Arch. Int. :\Ied., 1012 (10), .lOO: Ilamlmrger, 

 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc. 1912 (59), 847. 



34 Goodman, Jour. Exp. ^^led.. 1912 (15), 477. 



33 Wells and Long, Zeit. Krebforsch., 1913 (12), .598. 

 36Virchow's Arch., 1912 (207), .374. 



37 Arch. Middlesex ITosp.. 1910 (19). 55. 



38 See, for example, Rulf, Zeit. Krebsforsch., 1906 (4). 417: Miillcr, Cent. inn. 

 Med., 1909 (30), 89. 



3oRiforma med.. 1903 (19). 1037. 



40 Deut. Arcli. klin. Med., 1902 (72), 415. 



