A  m.  Jour.  Pliarm.  1 
November,  1901.  ) 
Digestive  Ferments. 
535 
are  immediately  killed.  Since  the  dogs  are  procured  from  the  pound, 
and  killed  by  an  anesthetic  instead  of  drowned,  there  should  be  no 
trouble  with  the  humane  societies. 
The  accuracy  of  the  results  obtained  by  the  application  of  this 
method  depend,  like  those  of  quantitative  methods,  generally  upon 
the  skill  of  the  operator  and  attention  to  details.  As  a  specific  ex- 
ample of  the  results  that  may  be  obtained,  the  following  illustration 
will  suffice :  Three  samples  of  adrenalin,  of  known  but  concealed 
strength,  were  prepared  and  assayed.  Calling  the  standard  100  per 
cent.,  the  unknowns  contained  40,  85,  and  130  per  cent.,  respec- 
tively.   The  results  reported  were  40,  83,  and  135  per  cent. 
DIGESTIVE  FERMENTS  IN  SURGICAL  PRACTICE. 
WITH  THE  FORMULA   OF  A  PEPSIN    SOLUTION,  USED  AT    THE  GERMAN 
HOSPITAL,  PHILADELPHIA. 
BY  M.  I.  WlLBERT. 
The  local  application  of  digestive  ferments,  to  dissolve  the 
coagula  and  putrescent  matter  found  in  lesions,  or  the  products  of 
morbid  changes  in  the  living  human  organism,  is  not  new.  Espe- 
cially is  this  true  of  the  vegetable  ferment  derived  from  a  South 
American  species  of  papaw.  The  proprietary  preparations  made 
from  the  milky  exudation  of  this  plant  have  been  recommended, 
and  used  quite  extensively,  to  dissolve  the  false  membrane  in  cases 
of  diphtheria.  This  same  class  of  preparations  has  also  been  used 
to  some  extent  for  external  application,  to  aid  in  cleaning  out  dis- 
agreeable sloughing  ulcers,  by  dissolving  the  broken  down  granula- 
tions and  albuminous  exudate  that  offer  both  shelter  and  food  for 
colonies  of  micro-organisms. 
The  latter  use  of  this  vegetable  ferment  is  evidently  a  very  old 
one,  and  borrowed  from  the  practices  of  savage  or  semi-savage 
races.  Mr.  F.  B.  Kilmer  in  "  The  Story  of  the  Papaw,"  published 
in  recent  numbers  of  The  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  relates 
how  the  native  S3uth  American  doctors  use  a  paste,  made  up  with 
the  juice  of  the  papaw,  as  one  of  its  chief  ingredients,  as  a  dressing 
for  loul  ulcers  and  offensive  sores  that  occur  among  the  natives  in 
hot  climates. 
While  this  vegetable  ferment  has  the  decided  advantage  of  be- 
ing active  in  either  an  acid,  neutral  or  alkaline  medium,  and,  theoret- 
