532 
Notes  on  Pancreatine 
5  Am.  Jour.  Phabm. 
I     Dec.  1,  1873. 
alkaline  when  fresh,  quickly,  however,  on  standing,  becoming  first 
neutral  and  then  acid,  differing,  however,  from  saliva  in  containing 
no  sulphocyanogen.  It  resembles  albumen  in  being  nearly  wholly 
coagulated  by  heat,  and  also  by  the  mineral  acids,  especially  when 
concentrated  ;  precipitated  also  by  alcohol.  When  this  precipitated 
coagulum  is  separated  from  the  liquid,  and  water  added  to  it,  it  is 
soluble,  thus  essentially  differing  from  albumen. 
Its  specific  gravity  is  from  about  1*008  to  1*009,  and  contains  from 
13  to  19  per  cent,  of  solid  matter,  of  which,  according  to  Schmidt, 
about  12J  per  cent,  is  pancreatin. 
The  action  of  this  peculiar  principle  upon  starch  is  to  change  it  to 
glucose,  and  upon  fatty  and  oily  substances  to  quickly  emulsify  them, 
thus  rendering  them  easily  absorbed  and  assimilated  by  the  lacteals. 
Bernard  supposed  the  fat  to  be  decomposed,  and  Fownes  also 
states  that  the  fat  is  resolved  into  fatty  acid  and  glycerin.  This  is 
denied  by  most  recent  writers,  and  such  is  certainly  not  its  principal 
action,  no  saponification  apparently  taking  place,  which  fact  may  be 
easily  proven  by  thoroughly  mixing,  with  agitation,  a  solution  of  pan- 
creatin with  cod  liver  oil.  After  emulsification,  which  almost  imme- 
diately occurs,  the  oil  may  be  separated  by  simply  agitating  the 
emulsion  with  ether  or  petroleum  benzin. 
This  emulsification  is  the  essential  purpose  of  the  pancreatic  fluid,, 
thus  breaking  up  the  fatty  globules  and  allowing  assimilation  to  pro- 
ceed with  rapidity,  and  in  this  respect  is  greatly  superior  to  either 
saliva  or  albumen.  Liquid  fats  are  insoluble  in  the  aqueous  albu- 
mino-saline  fluid,  with  which  the  vascular  tissues  are  saturated  ;  con- 
sequently no  absorption  can  take  place,  and  the  oil  passes  from  the 
patient  in  the  same  state  in  which  it  was  administered.  This  occurs 
most  frequently  during  the  administration  of  cod  liver  oil  to  phthisi- 
cal patients,  and  the  association  of  this  oil  with  pancreatin  offers  a 
valuable  and  natural  method  of  administration. 
At  the  time  when  the  subject' was  brought  to  the  writer's  notice, 
he  was  largely  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  saccharated  pepsin  by 
the  process  of  Mr.  E.  Scheffer  (an  excellent  one,  by  the  way),  and 
the  idea  suggested  itself  that  perhaps  a  solution  of  sodium  chloride 
would  precipitate  pancreatin  in  the  same  manner  as  it  does  pepsin. 
After  some  preliminary  experiments,  the  following  was  adopted  as 
furnishing  the  best  result : 
The  pancreas  are  dissected  and  macerated  in  water  acidulated  with 
