100 PHYSIOLOGY OF ALIMENTATION. 



The amylase of the pancreas is obtained in a very active 

 state by ROBERT'S method of precipitation with alcohol and 

 re-solution in water. The method of COHNHEIM for obtaining 

 the starch-splitting ferment of the saliva has also been applied 

 to the pancreas, though ROBERT'S method seems to give a 

 more active preparation. 



The most frequently utilized source of amylase to-day is 

 probably germinating malt, which contains this enzyme in 

 enormous quantities. EFFRONT'S l method of obtaining the 

 ferment from this source consists in the extraction of finely 

 ground malt with water for some time, filtration, and alco- 

 holic fermentation of the filtrate through the addition of 

 yeast. After a second filtration the amylase is precipitated 

 from the filtrate through the addition of alcohol. EFFRONT 

 obtained in this way from every 100 grams of malt 3 to 3J 

 grams of a white substance which, when redissolved in water, 

 was as active as 80 grams of the original malt. 



Much discussion has arisen as to the identity or non-identity 

 of the amylase obtained from various sources. So far as the 

 qualitative character of the action of the amylase on starch is 

 concerned, there seems to be no difference, whatever be the 

 origin of the ferment. Quantitatively the pancreatic amylase 

 acts more powerfully than the salivary, but this is explicable 

 on the basis of mere differences in the concentration of the 

 enzyme in the two secretions. 



Other characteristics, such as differences in sensitiveness 

 to heat, alkalies, acids, salts, etc., have also been brought 

 forward in support of the independent nature of the starch- 

 splitting ferments from different sources, but great care must 

 be exercised in accepting these arguments. As already stated, 

 amylase has not yet been obtained in a pure state. The 

 impurities which accompany any preparation of amylase are 

 different, depending upon the source of the ferment. Even 



I EFFBONT: Die Diastasen. Translated into German by BUCHELER, 

 Leipzig u. Wien, 1900, 1, p. 113. 



