24  Activity  of  Pancreatic  E.rfract,^.  { "'^^  jan  ^88T"'' 
rapidly  separated,  aggregating  tQ  a  resinous  mass,  wliieli  was  brittle 
when  cold.  The  aqueous  solution  was  filtered  ;  the  yellowish  filtrate 
did  not  crystallize  on  cooling,  did  not  reduce  Fehling's  solution  before 
ebullition  \vitli  dilute  acid,  but  did  so  afterwards,  proving  absence  of 
glucose  and  presence  of  undeconiposed  salicin.  The  precipitated  resin, 
washed  with  hot  water,  was  readily  soluble  in  warm  rectified  s})irit, 
forming  a  red-brown  tincture,  rendered  milky  by  addition  of  water; 
readily  soluble  in  solution  of  potash  and  thrown  out  by  HCl  as  a 
l^rown  precipitate  which  did  not  aggregate,  and  was  readily  redissolved 
by  cold  spirit  or  solution  of  potash. 
I  purpose  investigating  the  nature  of  this  resinous  body  more  fully 
at  a  future  date.  These  notes,  however,  show  that  at  a  temperature 
exceeding  300°F.,  salicin  is  decomposed,  yielding  a  brown  resin,  watei', 
salicylol  and  other  bodies.  Salicin  submitted  to  dry  distillation  yields 
similar  pro(hicts ;  it  is  therefore  probable  that  the  glycerin  exerts  no 
further  influence  than  that  of  controlling  the  temperature. — Phar. 
Jour,  and  Trans.,  Nov.  5,  1881. 
ESTIMATION  of  the  AMYLOLYTIC  and  PROTEOIA^TIC^ 
ACTIVITY  OF  PANCREATIC  EXTRACTS. 
Bv  W.  RonERTS. 
The  term  ferment  has  hitherto  been  applied  to  two  groups  of  agents 
which,  although  nearly  allied  in  origin  and  mode  of  action,  neverthe- 
less belong  to  essentially  different  categories.  The  organized  or  formed 
ferments,  of  which  yeast  is  the  type,  are  independent  organisms  with 
powers  of  growth  and  reproduction,  and  the  transformations  which 
constitute  their  special  characteristics  as  ferments  are  inseparably  asso- 
ciated with  the  nutritive  operations  of  these  organisms.  The  ferment 
power  cannot  be  separated  from  the  ferment  organism  by  any  method 
of  filtration  or  by  any  solvent.  The  soluble  ferments,  on  the  other 
hand,  pass  freely  into  solution  in  water;  their  action  is  dissociated 
from  the  life  of  the  gland-cells  which  produced  them,  and  they  are 
wholly  devoid  of  the  power  of  growth  and  reproduction.  The  author, 
following  Kiihne,  designates  these  soluble  ferments  as  "enzymes,"  and 
further  proposes  to  designate  their  action  as  enzymosis,  and  its  nature 
as  enzymic. 
The  pancreas  is  the  source  of  two  ferments  or  enzymes  of  ca])ital 
importance  in  the   digestion  of  food,  viz.,  an  amylolytic  enzyme 
