Am.  Jour.Pharm.") 
Oct.,  1883.  ; 
Influence  'of  Calomel  on  Fermentation, 
515 
and  strained  through  linen.  It  was  found  that  the  action  of  the  fer- 
ment, by  which  albuminates  become  digested,  was  in  no  respect 
hindered  by  the  presence  of  the  calomel,  and  further,  that  there  was  a 
€onspicu()us  absence  from  the  liquid  mixture  of  all  products  of  putre- 
faction. In  the  mixture  containing  calomel,  large  quantities  of  leucin 
and  tyrosin  were  found,  whilst  indol  and  phenol  were  absent.  In  the 
mixture  without  the  addition  of  calomel,  the  two  latter  bodies  were 
both  present,  but  only  traces  of  leucin  and  tyrosin.  »The  latter  solutions 
had  likewise  a  putrid  smell  and  a  dirty  brown  color,  whilst  the  former 
was  of  dark  grey  color  and  odorless. 
In  some  additional  experiments,  wherein  the  process  was  allowed  to 
proceed  in  a  Bunsen  gasometer,  and  the  evolved  gases  examined,  it  was 
found  that  from  the  mixture  containing  calomel,  hydrogen  and  hydro- 
gen sulphide  were  never  given  off,  and  carbonic  anhydride  in  very  con- 
siderably less  amount  than  from  the  control  mixtures  without  calomel. 
These  results  accord  with  those  of  Hiifner  (J.pr,  Chem.,  Vol.  10  and 
11,)  who  found  in  his  experiments  on  artificial  digestion  with  pancreatic 
extract,  that  when  by  means  of  a  properly  arranged  apparatus  entrance 
of  micro-organisms  was  prevented,  neither  hydrogen  nor  hydrogen 
sulphide  made  its  appearance,  but  only  carbonic  anhydride.  These 
two  first-named  gases  have  therefore  nothing  to  do  with  digestion 
proper,  but  are  the  result  of  putrefactive  changes,  brought  about  by 
the  presence  of  microzymes  in  the  alimentary  canal.  The  action  of  calo- 
mel on  the  ferment  of  the  pancreatic  juice,  to  which  the  digestion  of  fat  is 
due,  was  next  examined.  The  existence  of  such  a  principle  has,  until 
now,  been  considered  highly  doubtful,  Paschutin's  observations  on  this 
head  being  all  that  is  known  of  the  subject  (W.  Paschutin,  Ueber 
Trennung  der  Verdauungsfermente.  Centralbl.  fur  die  Mediein.  Wis- 
sensch.,  1882.) 
As  in  putrid  solutions,  fats  become  saponified  rather  quickly,  the 
problem  became  an  important  one  to  determine  whether  the  transfor- 
mation of  fat  in  the  alimentary  canal  was  owing  to  the  action  of  an 
unorganised  ferment  or  merely  to  the  putrescent  changes  going  on 
there.  The  experiments  made  proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  action 
of  pancreatic  juice  upon  fat  took  place  in  the  complete  absence  of  putre- 
faction, and  the  digestion  of  the  fat  by  the  pancreatic  extract  in  pre- 
sence of  calomel,  proceeded  precisely  as  in  the  instance  of  the  experi- 
ments in  regard  to  the  peptic  ferment  (trypsin)  of  that  gland. 
The  action  of  the  third  and  remaining  ferment  of  the  pancreas,  the 
