THE JUICES POURED OUT UPON THE FOOD. 69 



in composition and often containing enough protein to 

 coagulate into a solid when heated. 



The purest and apparently normal human pancreatic juice 

 has been obtained by GLAESSNER l from a forty-six year old 

 woman possessing a fistula of the pancreatic duct. GLAESSNER 

 describes it as a water-like liquid which froths easily and 

 on standing shows a very slight sediment. The juice has a 

 decided alkaline reaction even toward phenolphthalein, so 

 that it may really be regarded as alkaline in reaction. 

 Analysis of two specimens showed respectively 1.2708 and 

 1.2494 parts of dry substance in 100 of the juice. Analysis 

 of the dry substance showed, besides the ordinary inorganic 

 salts, albumin, albumose, and peptone. GLAESSNER gives as 

 the specific gravity of the juice 1.00748. 



The quantity of juice secreted by GLAESSNER'S patient in 

 twenty-four hours varied from day to day, the extremes 

 being 420 and 848 c.c. The quantity as well as the quality 

 varied with the character of the food ingested. During 

 starvation the quantity was very low, as was also the 

 digestive power for proteins, fats, and starch. Under 

 these conditions the alkalinity was also lower than after 

 feeding. 2 



The pancreatic juice contains several ferments alkali- 

 proteinase (trypsin), lipase (steapsin), amylase (amylopsin), 

 caseinase (rennin), and at certain times lactase. The alkali- 

 proteinase is able to act upon proteins and to split them 

 into a series of simpler substances in a manner similar to 

 but more powerful than acid-proteinase. Lipase acts upon 

 fats, breaking these up into fatty acid and alcohol. The 

 amylase of the pancreas is similar to that of the saliva, and 

 through its action on starch brings about the formation 



1 GLAESSNER: Zeitschrift fur physiologische Chemie, 1904, XL, p. 465. 

 For a review of the older literature on human pancreatic juice, see 

 SCHUMM: Zeitschrift fur physiologische Chemie, 1902, XXXVI, p. 292. 



