PANCREAS. 



103 



Very lately this subject has been taken up 

 by several able physiologists, and Bernard*, 

 Frcrichs -J-, and Bidder and Schmidt J, have 

 given to the world the results of careful and 

 elaborate researches both into the physical 

 and chemical characters of the fluid and its 

 physiological action. I shall describe first the 

 observations of these inquirers on the qualities 

 of the secretion, and, afterwards and sepa- 

 rately, their views of its physiological office. 

 It is very remarkable, that the differences 

 in the accounts given by these recent investi- 

 gators are vcr}- closely analogous to those ex- 

 isting between the results of the researches 

 above described. They all agree, however, as 

 to the invariable alkalinity of the secretion, 

 the absence of sulpho-cyanides, the existence 

 of a specific nitrogenous principle, and, in 

 general, to its possession of strong differen- 

 tial characters when compared with saliva. 



According to Bernard, the pancreatic secre- 

 tion obtained artificially during the life of the 

 animal is of two very distinct kinds, which he 

 characterizes as normal and morbid; the for- 

 ner obtained when the experiment is made 

 under favourable circumstances, before inflam- 

 mation has attacked the pancreas, or which is 

 collected from a dog possessing a permanent 

 pancreatic fistula; the latter alwajs secreted 

 in great abundance when the symptoms of in- 

 flammatory reaction appear in the pancreas 

 and in the wound in the abdomen. 



The normal secretion, which, adopting Ber- 

 nard's view, is of course the secretion, he de- 

 scribes as a colourless, limpid, viscid, ropy 

 fluid, without any characteristic odour, and 

 having a saline taste very like that of the 

 serum of the blood. It is constantly alkaline. 

 Exposed to heat, it is converted into a solid 

 white mass ; the coagulation is as entire and 

 complete as that of white of egg, the whole 

 becomes solid, not a drop of free liquid re- 

 maining. The other reagents of albumen 

 equally precipitate it. The alkalies produce 

 no precipitate, and redissolve the organic 

 matter when it has been previously coagulated 

 by heat, alcohol, or the mineral acids. But, 

 although exhibiting the same reactions, Ber- 

 nard believes that this nitrogenous principle 

 is essentially distinct from albumen, not only 

 in a physiological point of view, but in its in- 

 herent nature; and, as a proof of this, he 

 cites the fact, that when it has been coagulated 

 by alcohol and dried, it is easily and entirely 

 redissolved in water, whilst albumen, similarly 

 treated, is not dissolved to any appreciable 

 extent. <) These characteristics of the fluid, 

 which are given from the dog, Bernard says 

 obtain equally in rabbits, horses, and birds. 

 The n-orbid pancreatic fluid, which is alone 

 thrown out when the experiment is tardily or 



* Arch. Gen. de MeU, 4th Ser. torn. 19. p. 6886. 



f Wagner's Hanchvorterbuch der Physiol. 



j Die Verdauunggeschaft und der Stoffwechsel, 

 Leipsig, 1852. 



Bernard believes this to be the active matter 

 of the secretion, as it imparts to the water the pe- 

 culiar viscosity aud physiological properties of the 

 pancreatic fluid. 



roughly performed, and uhich always succeeds 

 to the other when the experiment is happy, is 

 watery, without any viscosity, has a saline and 

 nauseous taste, is of very low specific gravity, 

 and gives hardly any precipitate on the appli- 

 cation of heat, nitric acid, &c. It is poured 

 out very abundantly : Bernard collected from 

 a dog more than half an ounce in an hour, 

 whereas of the normal he found 31 grains 

 a maximum. The normal is not transformed 

 into the morbid secretion suddenly, but gra- 

 dually, losing, as it becomes more "and more 

 watery, its physiological properties, of which 

 at last it is quite destitute. This observation 

 of Bernard's is very important, as showing 

 the facility and extent to which the fluid 

 may be changed, and doubtless it goes some 

 way to explain the discrepancies of the ac- 

 counts which different observers have ren- 

 dered, but it is not entirely sufficient for this, 

 as, in some hands, a watery fluid with but little 

 albuminous matter and of very low specific 

 gravity seems to have been obtained at once, 

 even under circumstances the most favour- 

 able. 



Frerichs, who has made a most complete 

 analysis of this fluid *, and with whose ac- 

 count Lehiuann-{- agrees, describes it as co- 

 lourless, clear, very slightly tenacious, without 

 taste or smell, of alkaline reaction and a spe- 

 cific gravity as low as 1-008 to P009 ; heat, 

 alcohol, and acid, produce but a slight turbi- 

 dity; of solid constituents he found it contain 

 but 1*36 per cent, in the ass, and 1*62 in the 

 dog. 



Schmidt's account is something interme- 

 diate between the other two; he describes the 

 fluid as ropy and viscid, and as being coagu- 

 lated by heat into a milky mass, from which 

 white flocculi subside, leaving above a clear, 

 strongly alkaline fluid. He agrees with Bernard 

 in the solubility by water of the precipitated 

 and dried albuminous matter ; he states the 

 specific gravity of the fluid at P03I, and the 

 quantity of solid constituents at 9'924 per 

 cent.; in one case the amount of solids reached 

 11*56 per cent. 



The following are the quantitative analyses 

 of Frerichs and Schmidt : 



Pancreatic juice of ass (Frerichs). 

 Water - ... 986'40 

 Solid residue - - 13'60 



Fat - 

 Alcohol extract 

 Water extract 

 Soluble salts 

 Insoluble salts 



026 

 0-15 

 3-09 

 8-90 

 P20 



Pancreatic juice of dog (Schmidt). 

 Water- - - - 900'76 

 Solid residue - - 99-24 



Organic matter 

 Inorganic 



90-J8 

 8-86 



* Op. cit. p. 842849. 



t Physiol. Chem. (translated by Day), p. 112. 

 et seq. 



H 4 



