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Story  of  the  Papaw. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1901. 
THE  FERMENTS  OF  THE  PAPAW. 
The  latex  of  the  papaw  is  notable  from  the  fact  that  it  contains 
several  soluble  enzymes  or  ferments,  or  else  (if  such  a  thing  is  pos- 
sible) a  ferment  body  with  a  fourfold  power.  The  ferments  so  far 
noted  as  contained  in  the  lat^x  are : 
(1)  A  proteolytic  ferment  which  decomposes  proteids. 
(2)  A  coagulating  (rennet-like)  ferment  which  acts  upon  the 
casein  of  milk. 
(3)  An  amylolytic  ferment  having  the  power  to  attack  starch,  etc. 
(4)  A  clotting  ferment  similar  to  pectase. 
(5)  A  ferment  possessing  feeble  powers  of  action  upon  fats. 
The  digestive  action  of  the  latex  at  the  instant  of  its  extraction 
from  the  green  fruit  is  very  marked.  Placed  in  contact  with  such 
a  substance  as  blood  fibrin  in  a  little  water,  the  fibrin  will  be  dis- 
integrated before  your  eyes;  mixed  with  milk  and  warmed,  the 
milk  is  instantly  coagulated.  Boiled  starch  paste  is  thinned,  and 
the  blue  color  produced  upon  starch  by  iodine  is  changed  to  a  pur- 
ple in  a  few  minutes.  Poured  over  lumps  of  beef  and  placed  in  a 
warm  place,  the  meat  is  softened,  its  fibres  disintegrated,  finally 
becoming  a  partially  transparent  jelly.  The  action  upon  cooked 
egg  albumen  is  not  so  marked. 
The  latex  when  dried  retains  these  powers  in  a  somewhat  lesser 
degree.  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  ferments  exist  in  the  latex, 
and  possibly  in  the  cellular  structure,  as  a  zymogen  (carizymogen). 
This  presumption  is  verified  from  the  fact  that  after  the  extraction 
of  the  latex  or  pulp  with  water  (preferably  slightly  acid  or  alkaline), 
a  second  maceration  will  bring  a  further  yield  of  enzyme.  I  have 
repeated  such  a  process  ten  times  successively,  in  each  instance 
bringing  a  further  supply  (small  in  amount)  of  the  ferment  into  solu- 
tion. If  a  considerable  bulk  of  water  (neutral,  acid  or  alkaline)  be 
added  to  the  latex,  and  the  resulting  liquid  be  filtered  and  the  resi- 
due on  the  filter  paper  washed  with  water,  the  greater  portion  of 
the  ferment  will  be  found  in  the  filtrate. 
The  ferment  may  be  extracted  from  the  dried  milk  by  water  or 
glycerine  (neutral,  acid  or  alkaline),  by  very  dilute  alcohol  (5- 100); 
and  from  such  a  solution  may  be  precipitated  by  any  of  the  usual 
methods ;  such  as  an  excess  of  full  strength  alcohol,  saturation  with 
alkaline  salts,  etc. 
