102 



PANCREAS. 



Water - 



Animal matter soluble in alcohol 



Animal matter soluble in water 



Traces of albumen 



Mucus - 



Free soda 



Chloride of sodium 



Chloride of potassium 



Phosphate of lime 



99-1 



00*9 



Oxide of iron 



-J 



- a trace 



100-0 



" Not content," say these observers, " with 

 this first experiment, we undertook a second 

 with the same success *, and the results fur- 

 nished by analyses were absolutely the same : 

 from which we infer that the pancreatic juice 

 possesses a perfect analogy with the saliva 

 both of man and the horse, these two liquids 

 containing absolutely the same fixed principles, 

 nitrogenous and saline, and almost exactly 

 the same quantity of water.-f- The attempts of 

 these authors to obtain the pancreatic secre- 

 tion of a dog, after the manner of De Graaf, 

 were all unsuccessful; ten times they tried, and 

 as often failed ; a few drops were all they could 

 procure. Their data, therefore, are all taken 

 from the secretion as they found it in the horse. 

 Tiedemann and Gmelin J obtained the pan- 

 creatic fluid from the dog, the sheep, and the 

 horse that is, from one carnivorous and two 

 herbivorous animals ; and their results present 

 the most striking discrepancies with those of 

 the contemporaneous experiments of Lenret 

 and Lassaigne. In the dog this fluid, which was 

 obtained abundantly, was limpid, with a faint 

 blueish, opalescent cast, and a mucilaginous 

 feeling like the white of egg diluted with water, 

 a slight but sensibly saline taste, the first por- 

 tion faintly acid, the portion last secreted 

 slightly alkaline, and so abundantly albumi- 

 nous as to be rendered semi-solid by heat 

 nitric acid, &c. A hundred parts of the se- 

 cretion contained 



Solids - - 8-72 

 Water - - 91-28 



100-00 



100 parts of solid matter contained 

 Organic substances, osmazome with 

 a peculiar animal matter coloured 

 red by chlorine (with alkaline 

 acetates and chlorides) - - 44-32 



Caseous substance, possibly with 

 another animal substance, solu- 

 ble in water, but not in alcohol 

 (with salts of soda) _ lg'44 



Albumen, with a small quantity of 

 salts - ... 42-83 



105-59 

 Exceeding - 5-59 



* They do not say the quantity they obtained 

 this time. 



f Loc. cit. p. 106. 



| Recherches Experimentales Physiologiques et 

 Chimiques sur la Digestion. Jourdan's transla- 

 tion, p. 24. et seq. 



The secretion of the sheep was acid, and, 

 like the other, ropy between the fingers like 

 white of egg, and limpid ; it was perfectly so- 

 lidified by heat, and contained 



Solids (desiccated) 5-19 

 Water - - 94 81 



100-00 



Of these solids nearly 60 per cent, were 

 albumen. The secretion in the horse resem- 

 bled in all its reactions that of the sheep, 

 except that the albumen was not so abundant. 



The summary conclusions at which these 

 authors arrive, are that the pancreatic fluid 

 contains 



1 . In solids, in the dog 8*72, in the sheep 5 

 per cent. 



2. The solids consist of 



a. A large amount of albumen, about half 

 of the dry residuum. 



b. Osmazome. 



c. A substance reddened by chlorine, 

 found only in the dog. 



d. A caseous substance, probably allied 

 to salivary matter. 



e. A small amount of free acid, probably 

 acetic, present in all these specimens. 

 It is worthy of remark, that that por- 

 tion of the pancreatic fluid which was 

 secreted last was slightly alkaline : 

 this change probably depended on the 

 enfeeblement of the nervous influence 

 resulting from the operation. 



/. The ash consisted of alkaline carbo- 

 nate, chloride, phosphate, and sulphate, 

 and carbonate and phosphate of lime. 

 g. The alkaline sulpho-cyanide is not 



met with in the pancreatic secretion. 

 h. The alkali consists of a large quantity 

 of potash, and a very small portion of 

 soda salts. 



If we compare the composition of the pan- 

 creatic secretion in the dog and the sheep 

 with that of the saliva, we find the following 

 differences : 



1. The solid residue of the saliva does not 

 equal half that of the pancreas. 



2. The saliva contains mucus and a peculiar 

 animal (salivary') matter. If it contains al- 

 buminous or caseous matter, these subtances 

 are, in every case, in very small quantity. 

 On the contrary, the pancreatic fluid contains 

 an abundance of albumen and caseous matter, 

 but not a trace of mucus, and true salivary 

 matter, if it exists, is in very small quantity. 



3. The saliva is neutral, or contains a little 

 alkaline carbonate. The pancreatic secretion 

 contains a little free acid. 



4. The saliva contains sulpho-cyanide of 

 potassium ; in the pancreatic fluid there is 

 none. 



5. The other salts are nearly the same. 



6. It results, therefore, that those physio- 

 logists who think the pancreatic secretion 

 identical with saliva are in error. 



There is, then, an entire discrepancy be- 

 tween these two authorities with regard to 

 the pancreatic secretion its physical quali- 

 ties, reaction, amount of solids, chemical con- 

 stitution, the conclusions they infer, &c. 



