PRODUCTS OF PANCREATIC DIGESTION. 185 



independent of each other. The first appears to be due to local 

 action on the endings of the vasomotor nerves in the blood 

 vessels of such a character that unusual vascular dilatation fol- 

 lows. The effect on coagulation appears tp be due to a pecu- 

 liar action of the albumoses on the white blood corpuscles in 

 which the latter are rapidly disintegrated. The disintegra- 

 tion products are of two kinds, the one hastening and the other 

 retarding coagulation. It appears that the liver cells combine 

 with the products which hasten coagulation, so that the final 

 effect is to leave the blood in a condition where coagulation is 

 very slow. No satisfactory chemical explanation can be 

 offered for these phenomena. 



It has been suggested recently that the fully purified albu- 

 moses, like the two pancreas peptones, are non-toxic. Investi- 

 gations by Pick seem to show that the producing enzyme, 

 which is hard to separate from the resultant albumose or pep- 

 tone, is probably responsible for the observed phenomena. 



THE CARBOHYDRATE DIGESTION. 



The pancreas furnishes an enzyme called amylopsin or pan- 

 creatic diastase which acts on starch or dextrin to form sugar. 

 Beginning with starch we have the gradual formation of mal- 

 tose by hydrolysis. It has been already pointed out that this 

 is not a simple process but one which takes place in several 

 stages, various kinds of " dextrins " coming in between the 

 original starch and the final sugar. In addition to the enzyme 

 which forms the malt sugar the pancreas furnishes a " mal- 

 tase " which converts this malt sugar into glucose. The action 

 may be very well shown by means of the glycerol extracts of 

 pancreas described some pages back under the head of tryptic 

 digestion. 



Ex. Prepare a starch paste with 5 gm. of starch to 100 cc. of water. 

 Mix 10 cc. of this paste, after cooling, with 5 cc. of the pancreatic extract, 

 warm to a temperature of 35-4O C. and notice that the paste soon 

 becomes thin and nearly clear. After a time test for sugar. Repeat the 

 experiment, using pancreatic extract which has been boiled before mixing 

 with the starch. The sugar reaction now fails to appear, showing that 



