THE PANCREATIC SECRETION. 319 



like albumen : to it the peculiar digestive power of the 

 pancreatic secretion is probably due. Like saliva, the 

 pancreatic fluid shortly after its escape, becomes neutral 

 and then acid. 



The following is the mean of three analyses by 

 Schmidt : 



Water 

 Solids 



Composition of Pancreatic Secretion. 



Pancreatin . 



Inorganic bases and salts 



I9-55 



The functions of the pancreas are probably as follows: 

 i. Numerous experiments have shown, that starch is 

 acted upon by the pancreatic secretion, or by portions of 

 pancreas put in starch-paste, in the same manner that it 

 is by saliva and portions of the salivary glands. And 

 although, as before stated (p. 270), many substances be- 

 sides those glands can excite the transformation of starch 

 into dextrin and grape-sugar, yet it appears probable 

 that the pancreatic fluid, exercising this power of trans- 

 formation, is largely subservient to the purpose of digesting 

 starch. MM. Bouchardat and Sandras have shown that 

 the raw starch- granules which have passed unchanged 

 through the crops and gizzards of granivorous birds, or 

 through the stomachs of herbivorous Mammalia, are, in 

 the small intestine, disorganized, eroded, and finally dis- 

 solved, as they are when exposed, in experiment, to the 

 action of the pancreatic fiuid. The bile cannot effect such 

 a change in starch ; and it is most probable that the pan- 

 creatic secretion is the principal agent in the transfor- 

 mation, though it is by no means clear that the office may 

 not be shared by the secretion of the intestinal mucous 



