REGVLATION OF THE PANCREATIC SECRETION. 221 



rich. The juice poured out upon meat occupies an inter- 

 mediate position in this regard. The largest amylolytic 

 activity is found in the juice poured out on bread, less in the 

 juice poured out on milk, and still less in that poured out 

 upon meat. It is self-evident that so far as the fat- and starch- 

 splitting ferments are concerned the properties of the pan- 

 creatic juice correspaixd to the requirements of the food. A 

 diet rich in starch receives a juice rich in amylolytic fer- 

 ment, one rich in fat a juice containing much lipolytic fer- 

 ment. This is shown, as indicated in the above table, not 

 only by the strength of juice poured out upon these different 

 foods but also by the absolute quantities secreted by the 

 gland. 



The behavior of the proteolytic ferment seems at first to 

 differ from that of the amylolytic and lipolytic. In dis- 

 cussing gastric secretion it was shown that the weakest juice 

 was poured out on milk. In the case of the pancreas, how- 

 ever, the strongest proteolytic juice is poured out upon this 

 food, while a weaker one is poured out upon bread and a still 

 weaker one upon meat. When, however, the quantity of 

 juice poured out upon these different foods is taken into con- 

 sideration we arrive at conclusions similar to those found to 

 hold for gastric secretion. As indicated in the above table, 

 when equivalent quantities of protein are fed in the form of 

 bread, meat, and milk, the total quantity of ferment units 

 poured out upon these foods stands as 1978:1502:1085. In 

 other words, vegetable protein demands from the pancreas, 

 as well as from the stomach, the largest number of ferment 

 units, while milk demands the least. The difference between 

 the secretion of the stomach and the pancreas is, therefore, 

 limited to the fact that the former pours out its ferment in a 

 very concentrated form upon bread, while the latter pours 

 it out in a more dilute solution. 1 



1 See PAWLOW : Work of the Digestive Glands. Translated by THOMP- 

 SON, London, 1902, p. 39. 



