1884.] on the Liver ferment. 183 



as far as it is possible to consider that such bodies can be isolated. 

 It appears that an amylolytic ferment can be prepared from the 

 liver by the method adopted, but that the quantity, as judged by 

 its activity, is less than might be expected if it plays any very 

 specific part in this organ, and is in fact not greater than the 

 amount which can be obtained from nearly every tissue and fluid 

 of the body. 



The action of the ferment in as concentrated an extract as 

 could be prepared was tested on starch, and it was found that 

 though the sugar formed could not be proved to be definitely 

 maltose, it was very certainly not dextrose. This is important 

 since the sugar found in the liver itself post mortem is stated by 

 all observers to be dextrose. It is hence still more probable that 

 the ferment extracted is only the ordinary amylolytic ferment met 

 with generally throughout the tissues. 



(2) On the supra renal bodies. By Mr W. F. R. Weldon. 



(3) On the supposed presence of protoplasm in the intercellular 

 spaces. By Mr W. Gardiner. 



Russow's discovery of the existence of a so-called " intercellular 

 protoplasm" having been confirmed by several other investigators, 

 the author was led to examine the whole matter with the greatest 

 possible detail from a comparative and developmental point of 

 view, since the results were directly opposed to the views which 

 he had previously stated in his paper " On the constitution of the 

 cell-wall and middle-lamella." He finds that all his experiments 

 unanimously point to the fact that the substance present is not 

 protoplasm, but mucilage, and that the mucilaginous degeneration 

 of the external layers of the cell-wall is a phenomenon of almost 

 universal occurrence. 



(4) On a proteid occurring in plants. By Mr J. R. Green. 



The proteid which was the subject of the paper was described 

 as possessing properties similar in some respects to those of the 

 peptones and in others to those of the globulins. It is allied to the 

 former group by being soluble in distilled water, the reaction of 

 the solution being neutral ; in not being coagulated on boiling ; 

 and in being capable of dialysis. It resembles the globulins in 

 being precipitated by saturation of its solution by neutral salts 

 such as magnesium sulphate, or by the passage through it of a 

 stream of carbonic acid gas. It has been found to occur in Manihot 

 glaziovii, Mimusops globosa and a few other plants. 



