PROLIFERATION AND REGENERATION 



235 



sputum contained enzymes hydrolyzing fibrin, and attributed 

 this largely to bacteria. 



The amount of fats seems to depend directly upon the num- 

 ber of pus-corpuscles and the age of the pus (i. e., the amount 

 of fatty degeneration). Jacobson found from 0.08 to 1.6 grams 

 of fatty matter per day, containing on an average 14.76 per 

 cent, of soaps, 15.79 per cent, of higher fatty acids, 0-10 per 

 cent, of water-soluble fatty acids, 13.58 per cent, lecithin, and 

 10.49 per cent, cholesterin. 



As to the inorganic substances, Bamberger found two types 

 of sputum, catarrhal and inflammatory. In the inflammatory 

 there is a deficiency in alkali phosphate, SO 3 constitutes more 



than 8 per cent, of the salts, and the ratio, ^? equals . In 



JXj^ -*-^- 



catarrhal sputum the alkali phosphates constitute 10-14 per 

 cent., *^ = |^, and the SO 3 is from 0.6-1.2 percent. Chlo- 

 rine is about the same in both forms. The results of his anal- 

 yses are shown in the following table : 



TABLE IV. 



PROLIFERATION AND REGENERATION 



The factors that incite cells to proliferate, as well as those 

 that cause the cessation of proliferation after it has once started, 

 are too entirely unknown to permit of speculation as to their 

 exact nature. It seems probable, however, that they are, as 



1 Including magnesium. 



