^"jfn!^;  18™" }  Solution  of  Pepsin  and  Pancreatin,  25 
the  emulsifying  of  the  fats  as  they  pass  from  the  stomach  being  im- 
perfectly performed,  the  food  is  detained  longer  in  the  stomach  than 
is  right,  the  proportion  of  fat  to  fibrine  is  increased,  the  fat  envelop- 
ing the  nitrogenized  food  hinders  the  action  of  the  gastric  juice,  and 
acidity  and  stomachic  indigestion  are  produced.  In  treating  stom- 
achic indigestion,  therefore,  it  is  important  to  accelerate  the  digestion 
of  fatty  and  saccharine  portions  of  the  food ;  and  in  intestinal  to  ac- 
celerate and  perfect  the  digestion  of  the  albuminoids.  There  are  also 
cases  in  which  the  digestion  of  both  the  nitrogenized  and  unnitrogen- 
ized  food  is  at  fault. 
Impressed  with  the  foregoing  ideas,  Mr.  Edward  Long,  of  Dublin, 
sent  to  the  author  a  sample  of  his  solution  of  pepsine  in  glycerine, 
asking  him  to  try  it  in  practice,  and  give  his  opinion  upon  it.  The 
author,  however,  thought  that  a  solution  of  pepsine  and  pancreatine, 
combined  in  suitable  proportions,  wonld  fulfil  the  conditions  necessary 
for  a  perfect  digestive ;  he  therefore  suggested  to  Mr.  Long  the  prepa- 
ration of  such  a  solution.  The  result  of  the  experiment  is  given  in  a 
letter  from  Mr.  Long  to  the  author,  from  which  we  give  the  following 
extracts : — 
"  Following  up  the  subject  of  our  conversations  some  time  since,  I 
have  been  making  experiments  on  pancreatine  obtained  directly  from 
the  fresh  pancreas  of  the  calf.  The  result  has  been  quite  what  might 
have  been  expected  from  d  priori  reasoning,  as  you  will  see  from  the 
subjoined  statements. 
Some  difficulty  was  experienced  in  obtaining  the  solution  of  pan- 
creatine in  an  eligible  form  for  administration ;  but  at  last  I  succeed- 
ed in  producing  what  as  closely  as  possible  represents  the  digestive  fluids 
found  in  man.  It  is  composed  of  pepsine  and  pancreatine  in  suitable 
proportions,  using  for  the  former  a  solution  of  pepsine  introduced  by 
me  some  time  ago,  and  adding  the  solution  of  pancreatine  as  now  pre- 
pared. 
"  In  the  experiments  made  to  test  its  effects  a  very  curious  result 
was  observed.  Meat — beef  and  mutton — digested  in  pepsine  alone 
was  found  to  be  entirely  dissolved  with  the  exception  of  the  fat,  which 
floated  as  a  film  on  the  surface,  and  the  film  was  entirely  emulsified 
when  a  proper  quantity  of  pancreatine  was  added,  and  the  usual  con- 
ditions as  to  temperature,  etc.,  attended  to.  This  is  exactly  what  we 
might  expect,  reasoning  from  known  physiological  principles. 
"  Pepsine  in  an  effectual  form  has  been  a  great  boon ;  but,  as  I 
