574  Action  of  Digestive  Ferments  upon  Drugs.  {^'"xoT'^'iSl?'^'"' 
SOME  EESULTS  OF  THE  ACTION  OF  THE  DIGESTIVE 
FERMENTS  uiPON  DRUGS. 
By  George  Brownen,  F.C.S. 
Bead  before  the  British  Bharmaceutical  Conference. 
I  purpose  ill  this  paper  to  call  the  attention  of  this  conference  to 
some  of  the  results  of  the  action  of  solutions  of  the  digestive  ferments 
upon  medicinal  substances. 
Preparations  containing  the  gastric  and  pancreatic  ferments  have 
recently  become  famous  as  dietetic  auxiliaries ;  I  need  not,  therefore, 
occupy  time  with  references  to  peptonized  foods  or  drinks,  or  even  give 
a  detailed  account  of  their  discovery  and  develojiment. 
In  1836  Schwann  applied  the  term  pepsin  to  an  albumen-dissolving 
product  obtained  from  the  gastric  juice,  and  subsequent  investigations 
seem  to  show  that  the  gastric  juice  contains  more  than  one  distinct 
ferment,  or  that  this  ferment  may  be  modiiied  by  the  process  of 
extraction,  so  as  to  assume  new  or  lose  some  of  its  original  properties. 
This  is  also  true  of  the  ferment  or  ferments  of  the  pancreas.  Bou- 
chardat,  in  1845,  and  Claude  Bernard,  a  few  years  later,  discovered  or 
described  some  of  the  properties  of  the  pancreatic  secretion.  In  1862, 
Danilewsky  asserted  the  existence  of  three  special  ferments  in  the  pan- 
creatic juice,  and  since  that  time  Yon  Witticli,  Kuhne,  and  others 
have  extracted  and  examined  the  ferments  and  applied  them  to  dietetic 
purposes. 
But  there  is  a  field  of  research  outside  the  range  of  the  peptonized 
foods  which  merits  the  attention  of  the  pharmacist  and  the  physiolo- 
gist. It  is  this,  what  are  the  possible  modifications  which  drugs  may 
undergo  in  contact  with  the  digestive  secretions,  and  will  an  examina- 
tion of  such  results  be  of  service  in  the  jDreparation,  combination  or 
preservation  of  crude  material  so  as  to  secure  the  best  physiological 
results  ? 
Solutions  of  the  gastric  ferment  were  obtained  from  the  stomach  of 
the  pig,  by  means  of  dilute  glycerin  and  also  with  acidulated  water 
and  alcohol.  Pancreatic  solutions  were  also  obtained  from  the  pancreas 
of  the  pig  by  means  of  glycerin  and  a  feeble  alkaline,  as  well  as  an 
acidulated  dilute  alcohol.  The  first  series  of  experiments  were  made 
w^ith  these  solutions  and  crude  drugs ;  the  second  with  the  definite 
principles. 
An  infusion  of  rhubarb,  half  ounce  to  the  pint  of  water,  was  pre- 
