480  EDITORIAL. 
sandth  part,  if  slightly  acidulated,  dissolves  coagulated  albumen  in  six  or 
eight  hours.  This  property  of  pepsin  is  not  destroyed  by  alcohol;  and  in 
this  respect  Wasmann  and  Schwann  coincide  5  it  is,  however,  lost  when  the 
solution  is  boiled,  or  carefully  neutralized  with  potash 3  in  both  cases  the 
fluid  becomes  turbid." 
"  We  are  as  yet  unable  to  make  any  decisive  statement  regarding  the 
quantity  of  gastric  juice  secreted  in  24  hours;  indeed,  on  this  point,  we  are 
at  present  entirely  devoid  of  data  ;  we  only  know  that,  in  the  healthy  state, 
its  secretion  is  entirely  dependent  on  the  ingestion  of  food,  and  that  some 
articles  of  diet  excite  a  more  copious  secretion  of  gastric  juice  than  others. 
Thus,  for  instance,  sugar,  aromatic  substances,  spirit  of  wine,  and  alkalies, 
when  introduced  inlo  the  stomach,  immediately  excite  an  almost  overflowing 
secretion  of  gastric  juice  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  animal  substances,  which 
remain  for  a  longer  period  in  the  stomach,  require  a  far  greater  quantity  of 
gastric  juice  for  their  perfect  conversion. 
According  to  my  experiments,  100  grammes  of  the  fresh  gastric  juice  of 
a  dog  cannot,  on  an  average,  effect  the  solution  of  more  than  five  grammes 
of  coagulated  albumen,  (calculated  as  dry.)  Now,  if  we  assume  that  an 
adult  man  receives  into  the  stomach  about  100  grammes  of  albuminous 
matter  in  24  hours,  there  must  be  secreted  2000  grammes,  or  4  pounds  of 
gastric  juice  for  the  digestion  of  this  quantity." 
The  work  of  Dr.  Funke  is  viewed  as  a  supplement  to  Lehmann's  work ;  it 
consists  of  a  series  of  fifteen  plates,  each  presenting  six  microscopic  views 
of  substances,  crystalline  and  amorphous,  of  the  animal  organism.  Among 
the  more  prominent  may  be  mentioned  oxalate  of  lime,  butyric  acid  salts, 
lactates,  creatin  and  creatinin,  taurin,  glycine,  hippuric  acid,  uric  acid, 
cholic  acid,  cholestearin,  vessels  filled  with  chyle  in  the  villi  of  the  small 
intestines,  liver  cells,  blood  corpuscles  under  various  conditions,  blood 
crystals,  milk,  urinary  deposits  under  different  pathological  conditions, 
muscular  fibre  and  nervous  fibre.  The  engravings  are  executed  in  Ger- 
many, from  the  original  plates,  and  colored  there,  specially  for  the  Caven- 
dish Society,  so  that  there  has  been  nothing  of  their  original  excellence 
and  accuracy  lost  by  copying.  The  author  observes,  "the  task  which  I 
have  undertaken  is  the  graphic  representation  of  all  those  substances  where 
microscopic  and  micro-chemical  investigation  is  of  importance  to  physio- 
logical chemistry,  comprehending  in  this  term  all  that  has  received  the 
sanction  of  Lehmann's  work — that  is,  excluding  special  phyto-chemistry, 
and  including,  so-called,  pathological  chemistry,  which  it  is  altogether  im- 
possible to  separate  from  purely  physiological  chemistry."  It  has  been  the 
object  of  the  author  to  reproduce  the  natural  objects  in  the  minutest  detail, 
conscientiously  "prohibiting  the  slightest  idealization,  either  by  myself  or 
the  lithographer."  All  the  drawings  are  original,  and  as  mathematically  exact 
as  it  was  possible  to  get  them,  both  as  regards  angles,  and  outlines,  and 
proportions.  The  drawings  were  executed  by  aid  of  one  of  Oberhauser's  large 
microscopes,  and  the  author  preferred  to  employ,  in  most  instances,  one  of 
the  lower  powers,  between  180  and  200  fold,  as  being  better  adapted  for 
the  use  of  students,  and  consequently  that  the  drawings  would,  from  that 
cause,  better  correspond  with  the  practical  observations  of  the  microscopic 
student.  Although  not  properly  qualified  to  give  an  opinion  in  the  matter, 
yet  we  cannot  refrain  from  expressing  our  unqualified  satisfaction  with  the 
beautiful  and  accurate  delineations  which  the  plates  present,  and  which 
must  prove  of  essential  service  to  the  student  of  physiological  chemistry. 
