6o THOMPSON YATES LABORATORIES REPORT 
B. — Proteolytic Digestion 
1. — Pepsin digestion of raw beefsteak. 
Preservative. 
Amount. 
Method of experiment. 
N. dissolve.l. 
iV//. 
Digested for one hour. 
46.8 per cent. 
Boric acid 
mixture. 
I in 2000 
Preservative and steak in 
contact for 24 hours be- 
fore adding pepsin and 
acid. 
45.5 „ 
I „ lOOO 
42.2 
I „ 
34.6 „ 
" 
I „ lOOO 
Digested for one hour. 
50-7 „ 
-Pancreatic digestion. 
Bone acid 
mixture. 
I m 2000 
I „ lOOO 
1 " 333 
Preservative m contact 20 
hours before digestion. 
0.6 per cent. 
2.7 
I ,, lOOO 
Without previous contact. 
I.O „ 
C. — Influence of Curdling of Milk by Chymosin (Rennet Ferment) 
Very little influence was noted except that the borated samples showed more tendency 
to separate and that the curd was slightly more solid. 
Several other investigators — Cripps,* Liffman,! and others — have obtained results differing 
in a very few details from these. The figures show that boric acid and borax have a detrimental 
action on all the digestive ferments to the extent of from 0.6 to 53 per cent., according to the 
amount used and the nature of the ferment action. 
Experiments on Animals 
NeumannJ recorded the earliest experiments on animals. Dogs (in weight about 
15 kilogrammes) received from 5 to 6 grammes of boric acid without effect beyond a fall 
of temperature. Larger doses produced vomiting and diarrhoea. Doses of 10 grammes and 
over produced death by nerve and muscle paralysis. Rabbits, Pigs, Horses, and Fowls gave 
* The 'Analyst,' 1897, p. 184. t Ibid., p. 102. | ' Archiv fiir Experimentelle Pathologie unci Pharmacologie,' 1881. 
