322 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[October 26, 1872. 
“ Admitting tlie fact of its power to cure dysentery, 
a little reflection will convince one that the com¬ 
position of this milk is wonderfully calculated to 
produce the results I have stated. The only ques¬ 
tion is, can it be used otherwise than in a fresh 
state. Up to a certain period I can answer this 
question in the affirmative. The milk, even when 
corked in a bottle, soon turns sour and coagulates, 
but this for many months at least does not impair 
its efficacy. It is possible that if putrefaction ulti 
mately ensues, the milk will lose its properties. It 
is also possible that in certain cases the sourness ot 
the milk would be prejudicial, but I do not see why 
tliis should not be remedied by the addition of 
some inoffensive alkali.” 
Mr. White says he has some milk which he 
brought himself from the Clioco, which has been 
contained in a bottle for more than a year and 
a half, and is apparently as good as ever. One of 
the great advantages of the use of tliis milk in 
dysentery is the radical cure it effects. Its tonic 
and astringent properties appear to be brought into 
play as they are required, and as the resinous prin¬ 
ciple first serves as a palliative, the antispasmodic 
tonic and astringent properties work out the cure. 
Mr. White’s opinion of the medicinal properties 
of tliis milk is so favourable that he concludes his 
notes by saying that he cannot but think that, in 
combination with other medicines, it might serve as 
a base for successful treatment of cholera. 
It has been said that a single tree will yield as 
much as a quart in an hour. These notes will, no 
doubt, prove interesting to the readers of this 
Journal. An examination and trial of the milk in 
tliis country would also prove of much interest. 
PEPSIN, BISMUTH AND STRYCHNIA. 
BY E. ROTHER.* 
The most direct and satisfactory quantitative test 
for pepsin is unquestionably its power to dissolve 
coagulated albumen. Tliis method of assay should 
invariably hold a conspicuous rank in all processes 
for the liquid preparations of pepsin, and none 
should be deemed complete before their strength has 
been adjusted by this standard. But to obtain ac¬ 
curate and strictly reliable results in every instance 
by tliis method, a most perfect familiarity with every 
phase of the operation is indispensable. The delu¬ 
sive simplicity misleads all beginners, and no one 
should consider himself qualified to pronounce on 
the questions of pepsin until he has thoroughly 
digested this rudiment. 
Eberle, in his researches on artificial digestion, 
first pointed out the existence of the principle now 
known as pepsin. But Schwann was the first who 
isolated the body by precipitating it from its solution 
until mercuric chloride, and who further ascertained 
that its acidified solution acted as a powerful solvent 
upon coagulated protein substances. 
Wasmann instituted the most elaborate investiga¬ 
tions. He prepared pepsin by digesting the mucous 
membrane of a hog’s stomach with distilled water 
at slightly elevated temperatures for several hours; 
then rinsed it well with cold distilled water, and 
again macerated it with successive portions of dis¬ 
tilled water until putrefaction set in. The viscid 
neutral liquid resulting from these macerations he 
precipitated with plumbic acetate. By separating 
the metallic oxide from this precipitate, he obtained 
the pepsin in solution. Tliis liquid, after careful 
concentration, he treated with alcohol, which com¬ 
pletely separates the pepsin as a flocculent precipi¬ 
tate. According to Wasmann, tliis pepsin, when 
dissolved in 60,000 parts of water acidulated with 
hydrochloric acid, dissolves coagulated albumen in six 
to eight hours, and also acts powerfully as a similar 
solvent upon bone cartilage and gelatinous tissue. 
He also ascertained that an aqueous solution became 
turbid in the presence of a small quantity of mineral 
acid, but again became clear by adding an excess of 
acid. He likewise made the important observation 
that alkalies destroy the digestive propert} r of pepsin 
by abstracting the free acid, and that higher tempe¬ 
ratures also had a destructive effect. 
Bappenlieim found that ferrous and cupric sul¬ 
phates and other salts precipitated pepsin, and that 
the precipitate is again soluble in an excess of some 
of these reagents. 
Bidder and Schmidt isolated pepsin by neutralizing 
the peptic fluid with lime water, filtering, evapo¬ 
rating to a syrupy consistence, and precipitating with 
alcohol. This was dissolved in water, reprecipitated 
with a large excess of mercuric chloride; the mer¬ 
cury removed with hydric sulpiride, and the solution 
evaporated to dryness. The residue could endure a 
heat of 170° Centigrade without suffering decomposi¬ 
tion. C. Schmidt promulgated the theory that the 
true digestive principle was a combination of Was- 
mann’s pepsin and hydrochloric acid. This coupled 
acid he denominates pepsin clilorhydric, or clilo- 
ropeptic acid—a compound of a definite cha¬ 
racter, for whose formation the hydrochloric acid must 
never be below a certain fixed proportion. The 
effect of this agent upon the protein bodies results in 
the production of peptones and parapeptones. 
The methods for the preparation of effective 
pepsin have heretofore been tedious and circum¬ 
stantial. But Mr. Scheffer, taking advantage of the 
well-known property of concentrated saline solutions 
to precipitate the protein bodies, has succeeded in 
producing pure pepsin easily and expeditiously by 
precipitating it from the peptic fluid by adding 
sodium chloride to saturation. The pepsin thus ob¬ 
tained is dried after mixing it with lactin, and further 
attenuated with this substance until the dry pepsin 
amounts to one-tenth of the whole weight. Scheffer 
calls this mixture saccliarated pepsin. Pepsin care¬ 
fully prepared in this manner is always definite in 
its action, and forms the most convenient and re¬ 
liable base for the preparation of liquid pepsins. But 
to obtain the whole of tliis again in solution requires 
a prolonged maceration with acidulated water before 
filtering, and even then a small quantity of insoluble 
residue always remains. Tliis liquid filters with 
great difficulty, and after part of it has passed 
through, the sediment obstructs the filter, and anew 
one must be supplied to procure additional quantities 
of filtrate. To obviate tliis annoying difficulty, the 
writer filters the solution through cream of tartar. 
A beautifully clear filtrate and a rapid process are 
thereby ensured. 
The numerous liquid forms of pepsin, called pepsin 
wine, rennet w r ine, liquid rennet, liquid pepsin, and 
elixir of pepsin, being always in demand, the writer 
constructed a formula for a liquid preparation to 
supplant them all, as follows :—256 grains of sap- 
cliarated pepsin is macerated for several days in 
eight fluid ounces of water acidulated with hydro¬ 
s' Reprinted from the ‘ Pharmacist.’ 
