ACTION OF THE EXZYMES. 137 



the post-mortem excoriations of the gastric mucous mem- 

 brane. 



WEINLAND'S experiments give us a ready explanation of the 

 long-well-established facts which have been outlined. The 

 mucous membrane of the stomach and intestine contains 

 antiproteinase ; so also do the adult intestinal worms. In 

 the case of the cysticerci only the head and neck of the 

 larvse contain antiproteinase, in consequence of which the 

 remaining portions of the young parasites are digested. In 

 the same way we may assume that the greater ease with 

 which cooked meats are digested than raw, is due, in part at 

 least, to the fact that in them the antiproteinase is destroyed 

 by the heat used in preparing the meat. 



Many facts indicate that antiproteinase is widely dis- 

 tributed throughout the body, being present in probably 

 all tissues with the exception of the purely fatty ones. It 

 is entirely probable that antiproteinase exists also in the 

 insectivorous plants, which through their proteolytic secre- 

 tions are able to digest the animals they have caught without 

 being acted upon by these secretions themselves. That 

 "living" organs, such as the spleen, when introduced into the 

 stomach are able to withstand the action of the gastric juice 

 is dependent upon the presence of antiproteinase in these 

 organs. In the same way, extracts of liver and muscle are 

 able to decrease markedly the digestive activity of acid- 

 proteinase, which indicates that antiproteinase is present 

 in them. The same is true of blood-serum and red blood- 

 corpuscles. The discovery that antiproteinase exists in the 

 liquid portion of the blood seems to indicate that this ferment 

 must exist in every part of the body. 



Without discussing the subject more fully, which would 

 take us too far afield, it may not be amiss to point out what 

 an important physiological role this universal distribution 

 of the antiproteinase must play, and what pathological con- 

 sequences may accompany its lack or overproduction when 

 it is remembered that proteolytic ferments (acid- and alkali- 



