402 



H. T. Brown and J. Heron. 



[May 13, 



(4) Dextrose 53*0 .. 



Soluble starch and 



dextrin 47'0 . . 



100-0 



(5) Dextrose 50"6 W/3-86 *3'86 MjS'86 *3'86 



Soluble starch and 



dextrin 49-4 .... ^136°-3 50'6 134°-9 50'6 



lOO'O Calculated. Found. 



The question now arises — has the dextrose obtained in these experi- 

 ments passed previously through the stage of maltose, or has it been 

 derived more directly from the starch ? 



Direct evidence, as well as that furnished by analogy, points 

 strongly to the former proposition being the correct one. We have 

 seen, in four out of five of the experiments, that the soluble starch 

 resisted very persistently the hydrolytic action of the ferment. Where 

 this resistance to transformation was least strongly marked, as in the 

 experiment with the Peyer's glands, a little maltose was found. 



The conclusion seemed a fair one that we had here to deal with a 

 remarkable hydrolysing agent, differing, in its relative action upon 

 starch and starch-products, from that of any other known ferment of 

 its class ; an agent which is in fact capable of hydrolysing maltose 

 with greater ease than soluble starch. 



On further experiment this surmise proved correct. 



All portions of the small intestine exert at 40° a rapid hydrolytic action 

 upon maltose ; an action, however, ivhich varies in intensity in different 

 parts of the intestine, and is far more energetic than that of a similar 

 portion of the intestine upon starch-paste, soluble starch, the higher dextrins, 

 and even cane-sugar itself. 



After thoroughly washing the small intestine of a pig, the portions 

 of the jejunum containing the agminated Peyer's glands were cut out, 

 rapidly dried at 35°, and cut into fine shreds, 5 grms. of which were 

 immersed in 100 cub. centims. of a solution containing 3'107 grms. of 

 pure maltose. 



The mixture was digested at 40° for sixteen hours, and at the end 

 of that time it was found that the maltose had been entirely converted into a 

 dextrose which possessed the same specific rotatory power and cupric- 

 oxide reducing power as ordinary dextro-glucose, with which it was 

 doubtless identical. 



All portions of the small intestine exert, ceteris paribus, a much 

 more rapid and complete action upon maltose than upon cane-sugar, 

 and the hydrolytic effect of the agminated Peyer's glands upon either 

 of these carbohydrates is far greater than that of any other portion of 



Wis. 



so 



. . JL32°-6 53-0 133°-0 53-0 



Calculated. 



Found. 



