104 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
We may therefore state that the diastatic ferment of the saliva 
is killed by a certain degree of acidity of the gastric contents 
(varying from 0 # 06 to 04 per cent, hydrochloric acid), and, depend- 
ing on the rapidity of production of this acid, it continues active 
in the stomach until this limit is reached. 
The sugar formed from starch conversion during this period 
must he at once absorbed in healthy conditions, as it is not found 
in the stomach at a later stage in digestion. 
