no PHYSIOLOGY OF THE INVERTEBRATA. 



product found in tlie Sepia's "liver." This product was 

 proved to be albumin in pseudo-crystalline aggregations when 

 examined under the microscope. These bodies are not of a 

 constant occurrence in this organ of Seipia officinalis. 



Two years after the publication of the above-mentioned 

 memoir the author * made a thorough examination of this 

 organ in Sepia which substantiated and extended the observa- 

 tions of Krukenberg,t Fredericq,| and Jousset de Bellesme.§ 



After carefully dissecting the organ out of the cavity of 

 the body of a fresh Sejna, the following experiments were 

 performed : — 



(i) A small portion of the organ was placed on starch- 

 paste. The starch granules disappeared, with the exception 

 of the celluloid covering, and on treating with water, and 

 testing the solution with Fehling's solution, sugar in the 

 dextrose form was found. 



(2) The organ gave an akaline reaction to litmus paper. 



(3) When a small portion of the organ was agitated with 

 a small quantity of oil, an emulsion was produced — this 

 emulsion had first an alkaline reaction, and after some time 

 became acid, owing to the formation of butyric and other 

 acids of the fatty series. 



(4) The action of it on milk was to render the milk trans- 

 parent in four hours ; 15 cc. of milk were rendered trans- 

 parent by 6 milligrammes of the organ. 



(5) A chemico-microscopical examination of the secretion 

 of the organ revealed the presence of albumin. 



. The Isolation of the Ferment. — The process used to obtain 

 the ferment or ferments (in a crude state) from the secretion 

 of the organ was that devised by Wittich and used by 

 Kistiakowskyll in his researches on pancreatic ferments. 



* Proceedings of Boycd Society of Edinburgh, vol. 13, p. 120. 



t Untersuch. Physiol. Inst. Heidelberg, Bd. i, p. 327 [1878]. 



t Bvll. Acad. Sciences Belgique, tome 56, p. 761 [1878] ; lievue Intern. 

 Sciences, t. 3, p. 263 [1879]. 



§ Comptes Rendus, t. 88, pp. 304, 428 [1879]. 



II Ffliiger's Archiv. fiir Physiologie, vol. 9, p. 438. 



