572 
Changes  in  the  Gastric  Juice. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Xov.,  1889. 
is  not  injured  as  to  its  saccharifying  power.  Copaiba  balsam  can  be 
recognized  in  the  saliva  of  persons  who  take  it  almost  immediately. 
According  to  the  investigations  of  L'Heritier  the  saliva  of  a  healthy 
person  contains  98*65  per  cent,  of  water,  1*26  per  cent,  of  organic 
matter  and  0*09  per  cent,  of  salts. 
From  antiquity  a  high  therapeutic  and  toxic  action  has  been  ascribed 
to  saliva,  and  emperors  and  kings  have  worked  "  miracles  "  by  means 
of  their  spittle.  Recently  Brera  has  mixed  saliva,  on  account  of  its 
easy  absorption  with  ointments  and  other  external  applications.  He 
reports  that  in  chlorosis  he  has  obtained  good  results  by  the  admixture 
of  saliva  with  opium,  and  he  also  speaks  favorably  of  mixture  of 
saliva  with  scilla,  digitalis,  aconite  and  sublimate.  Dr.  Sticker  further 
seems  to  have  stated  in  his  paper  that  it  is  the  custom  of  the  German 
apotheker,  when  preparing  mercurial  ointment,  to  spit  into  the  mortar, 
but  this  is  distinctly  contested  by  the  editor  of  the  periodical  from 
which  the  foregoing  abstract  is  taken. 
THE  CHEMICAL  CHANGES  IX  THE  GASTRIC  JUICE.1 
By  Dp.  Bourget. 
Dr.  Bourget,  in  this  paper,  after  criticising  the  theories  of  Bouchard 
and  Glenard,  proceeds  to  give  the  result  of  his  experiments  with 
regard  to  the  action  of  certain  substances  upon  the  contents  of  the 
stomach.  Salol  only  undergoes  change  after  passing  the  pylorus  and 
coming  in  contact  with  an  alkali.  Dr.  Bourget  found  that  on  taking 
2  per  cent.  HC1  with  a  meal  salol  was  discovered  in  the  urine  1\  to  If 
hours  afterwards,  while  if  he  partook  of  fruit  and  vegetables  the  time 
-which  elapsed  was  .reduced  to  from  a  quarter  to  half  an  hour.  He 
argues  from  this  that  conclusions  drawn  from  the  use  of  salol  are  sub- 
ject to  great  error.  Dr.  Bourget  objects  to  the  common  plan  of  pre- 
scribing pepsin  in  disease  of  the  stomach.  He  says  that  in  sixty-three 
cases  after  analysis  of  the  contents  of  the  stomach  sufficient  pepsin  was 
present  for  the  purposes  of  digestion.  In  fifteen  cases  of  carcinoma 
pepsin  was  never  deficient  in  quantity.  This  was  also  the  case  in  forty 
cases  of  chronic  and  subacute  gastritis.  In  sixteen  cases  of  carcinoma 
Dr.  Bourget  never  found  full  HC1  in  the  stomach.  In  seven  cases  of 
ulcer  of  the  stomach  the  quantity  of  HC1  was  great,  but  no  pyrosis 
1  Revue  medicaid  de  la  Suisse  Bomande;  from  the  Medical  Chronicle,  October, 
1889,  page  42. 
