100  ON  THE  PREPARATION  OF  LIQUID  PEPSIN. 
sherry  wine  by  maceration  for  eight  days,  after  which  time  the 
membrane  was  removed  and  employed  to  prepare  liquid  Pepsin 
according  to  the  formula  given  above.  The  resulting  prepara- 
tion was  found  capable  of  dissolving  one  drachm  of  coagulated 
albumen,  rendering  it  evident  that  wine  had  taken  up  little  or 
none  of  the  active  principle  of  the  mucous  membrane. 
By  making  the  Wine  of  Pepsin  the  mucous  membrane  does 
not  swell  up,  as  this  is  the  case  when  liquid  Pepsin  is  made;  on 
the  contrary  it  seems  to  contract;  therefore  I  believe  that  the 
alcohol  in  the  wine  coagulates  the  albuminous  substances  of  the 
membrane.  The  quantity  of  alcohol  in  sherry  wine  seems  like- 
wise sufficient  to  prevent  the  Pepsin  from  being  dissolved.  To 
prove  this  assertion  I  added  to  one  fluid-ounce  of  liquid  Pepsin  a 
mixture  of  half  a  fluid-ounce  of  alcohol  and  one  and  a  half  fluid- 
ounces  of  distilled  water,  thus  forming  a  liquid  containing  sixteen 
per  cent. of  alcohol,  about  the  percentage  of  good  sherry  wine  ; 
which  mixture,  at  first  quite  clear,  became  after  a  short  time 
opalescent,  cloudy,  and  after  thirty  six  hours  flakes  of  Pepsin 
had  separated.  The  flakes  were  collected  on  a  filter,  drained, 
then  dissolved  in  water  acidulated  with  muriatic  acid,  and  with 
a  certain  quantity  of  coagulated  albumen  exposed  to  a  tempera- 
ture of  105°.  This  experiment  was  controlled  by  another  one, 
in  which  the  same  quantity  of  albumen  was  added  to  the  same 
quantity  of  water  and  muriatic  acid.  After  several  hours,  at 
least  three-fourths  of  the  albumen  in  the  experiment  which  con- 
tained the  flakes  had  disappeared,  while  in  the  other  one  the 
albumen  was  not  acted  upon,  thus  proving  beyond  doubt  that 
the  flakes  were  indeed  Pepsin. 
After  these  experiments  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  that  the  so- 
called  Wine  of  Pepsin  does  not  contain  any  Pepsin  at  all,  and 
that  all  the  medical  virtue  of  it  has  to  be  attributed  to  the  wine 
itself. 
BoudauWs  French  Pepsin. 
A.  To  one-half  drachm  mixed  with  one  fluid-ounce  of  water 
was  added  one  drachm  coagulated  albumen. 
B.  To  one-half  drachm  mixed  with  one  fluid-ounce  of  water 
and  fifteen  drops  of  pure  muriatic  acid,  was  added  one  drachm 
coagulated  albumen. 
