PRODUCTS OF PANCREATIC DIGESTION. 1/5 



may be secured in several ways. The following methods 

 answer very well. 



DIGESTIVE EXTRACTS. 



Ex. Mince a hog's pancreas fine and weigh out about 10 gm., which 

 cover with absolute alcohol in a small bottle. Cork and allow to stand 

 over night. Then pour off the alcohol, which is added to remove water, 

 and squeeze out the residue. Return to the bottle, add 10 cc. of glycerol 

 and allow the mixture to stand about a week with frequent shaking. At 

 the end of this time pour or strain off the glycerol which is now a fairly 

 strong pancreatic extract, and able to act on the three classes of food 

 stuffs. It has been found by experience that the extracts from beef and 

 hog glands are not quite the same in digestive activity, but the hog's pan- 

 creas yields a product suitable for all practical purposes, and which keeps 

 a long time when made in this manner. 



Ex. An active pancreas powder which keeps indefinitely is also very 

 useful and may be made in this way. Remove the adhering fat as care- 

 fully as possible from a hog or beef pancreas and mince it fine in a meat 

 chopping mill. The disintegrated substance is treated as above with an 

 excess of absolute alcohol to remove water. The alcohol is poured off 

 and the residue pressed dry. This residue is mixed with ether, allowed to 

 stand an hour, and then freed from ether by pouring, pressing and air 

 evaporation. This treatment removes practically all the water, traces of 

 fat remaining and other substances soluble in alcohol and ether. What 

 is left is thoroughly air dried, ground to a fine powder and sifted through 

 gauze with 20 to 30 meshes to the inch. The powder so secured may be 

 kept in a stoppered bottle. In digestion experiments the powder may be 

 used directly, or an extract may be employed. This is best obtained by 

 soaking a few grams of the powder with fifty times its weight of thymol 

 water through 24 hours. 



Some of the conditions of pancreatic digestion may be illus- 

 trated by very simple experiments. 



Ex. Pour 25 cc. of a i per cent solution of sodium carbonate (crys- 

 tallized salt) into each of several small flasks or test-tubes. Add to each 

 half a cc. of the glycerol extract of pancreas and about a gram of finely 

 divided hard boiled white of egg. (The white of egg can be easily pre- 

 pared according to the method given under the pepsin test.) Make one 

 of the tubes slightly acid by the addition of dilute hydrochloric acid, 

 enough to amount to 0.2 or 0.3 per cent. Now place all of them in water 

 kept at 40 C. At the end of half an hour remove one of the alkaline 

 tubes, and note that it still contains unaltered coagulated albumin. Test 

 the liquid for albumoses and peptones as given above. After another half 

 hour, test a second tube (after filtration). It will be observed that as 

 the coagulated protein disappears peptones become more abundant. 



Allow one of the alkaline tubes to remain several hours at a tempera- 

 ture of 40 C. In time it develops a disagreeable odor, due to the pres- 



