828 Canadian Record of Science. 



this case being intracellular. 5. This secretion is probably not 

 acid. It cannot apparently act on cellulose walls, but diffusing 

 through the coats of cellulose clothing organisms, acts on the con- 

 tained protoplasm. There is thus some evidence for the view that 

 Rhizopods normally derive fat and carbohydrate from the splitting 

 up of solid proteid — in which they would resemble the highest 

 mammals. They can also probably utilise matter already in solu- 

 tion. 6. The formation of the digestive secretion is not stimulated 

 by bodies incapable of digestion or unsuitable jfor nourishment. 7. 

 At a certain stage of digestion, there may be temporary loss of fluid 

 around the food ; later, the vacuole of ejection succeeds the digestive 

 vacuole ; and by the outward opening of this vacuole all remains of 

 former food are expelled from the body (excretion). The crystals 

 found in Amoeba Proteus and the contractile vacuole seem to have no 

 direct connection with digestion. After the ingestion of food, the 

 "proper" granules gather around it; this may have a digestive 

 significance, but such cannot be positively asserted. Observation 

 of the behaviour of these two forms in relation to the digestiva 

 process have led to the belief that there are differences of a non- 

 essential character. — Jour, of Physiology, Eng. 



The Liver Ferment. — Miss Florence Eves, B.Sc, of Newnham 

 College, has published a research bearing on this question : Is there 

 a liver ferment which converts glycogen into sugar or not ? An 

 affirmative answer to this question has been given since the time 

 of Bernard, but the existence of such ferment was rather an 

 assumption than a demonstrated fact. Miss Eves treated the 

 livers of various animals, especially of the sheep, according to 

 approved methods, with a view of extracting a ferment. The re- 

 sults of her work may be summarised about as follows : — 1. There 

 is evidence of the existence of an amylolytic ferment in the (dead) 

 liver, but the amount is very small; a portion of this may be fairly 

 assumed to have been derived from the blood remaining in the un- 

 washed liver, since an amylolytic ferment can be extracted from 

 blood. 2. The sugar formed post-mortem in the liver is true dex- 

 trose, as had been previously shown. 3. The sugar formed by the 

 isolated liver-ferment is not dextrose. It is of smaller reducing 

 power, and may be possibly maltose. It seems natural, therefore, 

 to conclude that the post-mortem conversion in the. liver is not due 

 to ferment action. The rapid appearance of sugar in the liver after 

 death is rather to be attributed to the " specific metabolic activity 

 of the dying cells." , The same cause suffices to explain the more 

 gradual production. This conclusion would relieve physiology of 

 at least one ferment, and it must be confessed that ferment action 

 seems to be bearing a large share — an undue share in the physio- 

 logical explanations of the day. — Jour, of Physiology, Eng. 



