902 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 128. 



always slackened and the bolus moved 

 slowly into the stomach. Thin mush and 

 viscid fluids were also carried down by 

 peristalsis. Large boluses stopped in the 

 lower half of the thorax with each expi- 

 ration, and descended with each inspiration. 

 The examination of a cat's stomach iilled 

 with food mixed with subnitrate of bismuth 

 showed the occurrence of a constriction at 

 about the middle of the organ, which 

 slowly moved towards the pylorus and was 

 followed by other peristaltic waves at inter- 

 vals of about ten seconds. The food thus 

 pressed onward toward the pylorus did not 

 pass into the duodenum, but returned 

 apparently through the central portion of 

 the organ, since the wave of constriction 

 was never suf&cient to obliterate the whole 

 cavity. 

 The Reaction of some Animal Fluids. R. H. 



Chittenden. 



There is a general assumption on the 

 part of physiologists that the alkaline re- 

 action obtained with red litmus, in the case 

 of many animal fluids, is due in great part 

 to the presence of sodium carbonate. In 

 many cases this assumption is quite erro- 

 neous. Thus, a large number of examina- 

 tions of fresh bile from many species of 

 animals shows that the fluid never contains 

 any sodium carbonate ; although alkaline 

 to red litmus, the fluid is invariably acid 

 toward phenolphthalein, 1 gram of bile re- 

 quiring on an average 0.4 milligram NaOH 

 to neutralize the free acid or acid salts pres- 

 ent. With lacmoid, however, the reaction 

 is invariably alkaline, thus showing the 

 absence of free acids. The salts Na^HPO^ 

 and NaHjPO^ undoubtedly play an im- 

 portant part in determining the beha- 

 vior of the bile toward different indica- 

 tors. As a rule, 5 c.c. of fresh ox bile re- 

 quire 0.5 c.c. of y\ normal NaOH solution 

 to render the fluid neutral to phenolphtha- 

 lein and about 3.0 c.c. of jJ^ normal HCl so- 

 lution to make the fluid neutral to lacmoid. 



Human mixed saliva is likewise acid to 

 phenolphthalein ; on an average 5 c.c. of 

 filtered saliva require 0.6 c.c. of jJ^ normal 

 NaOH solution to render the fluid neutral 

 to phenolphthalein. Toward most other 

 indicators the fluid reacts alkaline, viz., 

 with rosolic acid, litmus, lacmoid, congo 

 red, alizarin, etc. 



The submaxillary saliva of the dog, how- 

 ever, obtained on stimulation of the chorda 

 tympani, is faintly alkaline to phenolphtha- 

 lein, but 5 c.c. of the fluid generally requii-e 

 1.3 c.c. of J^ normal HCl solution to render 

 the fluid neutral to litmus and lacmoid. 

 Succus entericus and pancreatic juice un- 

 doubtedly owe their alkalinity in great part 

 to the presence of sodium carbonate and 

 bicarbonate. 



The Proteolytic Action of Papain. E.. H. Chit- 

 tenden. 



The results of some quantitative experi- 

 ments made by Mr. McDermott, designed 

 to throw light upon the relative peptone- 

 forming power of papain, were reported. 

 The following experiment with coagulated 

 egg-albumen, in the presence of 0.25 per 

 cent. Na2Co3 and chloroform at 40°C., may 

 serve as an illustration of the character of 

 the results. 



24 hours 48 hours 



digestion. digestion. 



Undissolved residue "1 oc q „„ „ -i- qoq „„_„„„+ 



(mostly antialbumid) l-^S.S per cent...32.8 percent. 



Neutralization precipitate 1.7 " 0.9 " 



Proteoses 26.7 " 24.3 " 



Peptones 35.8 " 42.0 " 



Especially noticeable is the behavior of 

 deutero-albumose as formed by papain, 

 when injected into the blood of a dog, in 

 the proportion of 0.5 gram albumose per 

 kilo of body weight. Unlike the corre- 

 sponding albumose formed in gastric diges- 

 tion, this substance does not appear to 

 affect blood pressure, neither is there any 

 noticeable effect upon the temperature of 

 the body. Coagulation of the blood, how- 

 ever, is somewhat retarded, although not to 

 the same extent as with ordinary deutero- 



