
158 ReEporT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE 
bile forms soaps. It is moreover a solvent of solid soaps, and it 
would appear that the emulsion of fats is under certain circum- 
stances at all events facilitated by the presence of soaps in solution. 
Hence bile is probably of much greater use as an emulsion agent 
when mixed with pancreatic juice than when acting by itself 
alone. Lastly, the passage of fats through’membranes is assisted 
by wetting the membranes with bile, or with a solution of bile- 
salts. Oil will pass to a certain extent through a filter paper kept 
wet with a solution of bile salts, whereas it will not pass or passes 
with extreme difficulty through one kept constantly wet with 
distilled water. ; 
Bile posesses some antiseptic qualities. Out of the body its | 
presence hinders various putrefactive processes, and when it is 
prevented from flowing into the alimentary canal, the contents of 
the intestines undergo changes different from those which take 
place under normal conditions, and leading to the appearance of 
various products, especially of ill- smelling gases. 
Pancreatic juice. The healthy juice is a clear, somewhat viet 
. fluid, having a decided alkaline reaction. On starch pancreatic 
juice acts with great energy, ‘rapidly converting it into sugar 
(chiefly maltose). All that has been said in this respect concern- 
ing saliva might be repeated in the case of pancreatic juice, 
except that the activity of the latter is far greater than that of 
the former. On protecds pancreatic juice also exercises a solvent 
action, so far similar to that of gastric juice that by it protecds are 
converted into peptone. Also during the pancreatic digestion of 
proteids, two remarkable nitrogenous crystalline bodies appear, 
namely leucin and tyrosin. | 
On fats pancreatic juice has a twofold action. In the first place 
it emulsifies fats. If hog’s lard be greatly heated until it melts 
and be then mixed with pahcreatic juice before it solidifies on 
cooling, a creamy emulsion, lasting for almost an indefinite time, 
is formed. So also when olive oil is shaken up with pancreatic 
juice, the separation of the two fluids takes place very slowly, and 
a drop of the mixture under the microscope shows that the divi- 
sion of the fat is very minute. In the second place pancreatic 
juice splits up neutral fats into their respective acids and glycer- 
ine. This palmatin (or tripalmitin) is split up into palmitic acid 
and glycerine, and so with other neutral fats. If perfectly — . { 

