Am.  Jour.  Pharm  ) 
Nov.,  1880.  J 
Papaiue. 
569 
"papaine."  It  was  at  the  same  time  stated  that  it  appeared  probable 
that  a  fresh  quantity  of  papaine  was  formed  by  the  action  of  water 
upon  the  coagulum.  In  the  present  paper  M.  Wurtz  describes  the 
experiments  undertaken  with  the  object  of  settling  this  and  other 
points. 
125  grams  of  papaw  juice  obtained  by  incision  of  the  green  fruit 
were  filtered  and  the  residue  pressed.  The  solution  precipitated  by 
alcohol  yielded  0*89  gram  of  a  papaine  very  rich  in  ash,  and  containing 
— -deduction  being  made  of  the  ash — 45*62  per  cent,  of  carbon  and 
6*72  per  cent,  of  hydrogen. 
The  pressed  pulp  was  triturated  in  a  mortar  with  125  grams  of  water, 
and  after  twenty-four  hours  thrown  upon  a  filter.  The  residue  upon 
the  filter  was  triturated  with  a  fresh  quantity  of  90  grams  of  water. 
The  two  liquors,  concentrated  in  a  vacuum  with  the  addition  ot  a  few 
drops  of  prussic  acid,  yielded  2*3  grams  of  papaine.  After  these  two 
washings  the  pulp,  already  much  reduced,  was  submitted  to  two  fresh 
washings  with  water  (first  with  142  cc.  and  then  with  150  cc),  and 
the  liquors,  united  and  concentrated  in  a  vacuum,  still  yielded  i*i  gram 
of  papaine,  being  a  larger  proportion  than  yielded  by  the  original  juice. 
This  papaine,  which  digested  fibrin  energetically,  contained  (deduction 
being  made  for  ash)  carbon,  49*77,  hydrogen,  7*21  per  cent.  It 
therefore  presented  a  composition  differing  from  that  of  the  ferment 
dissolved  in  the  original  juice. 
After  these  four  washings  the  white  pulpy  residue,  not  very  much 
being  left,  was  again  digested  with  50  cc.  of  water,  and  the  water 
afterwards  placed  with  10  grams  of  moist  fibrin.  At  the  end  of 
two  days  only  8  grams  of  fibrin  remained,  and  the  liquid,  after  filtra- 
tion, was  precipitated  slightly  by  nitric  acid  ;  the  fifth  wash-water, 
therefore,  still  contained  a  small  quantity  of  ferment.  After  these  five 
washings  there  only  remained  5  grams  of  mc)ist  pulp,  representing  0  564 
gram  of  dry  matter.  2-5  grams  of  this  pulp  put  to  digest  with  10 
grams  of  moist  fibrin  at  50°C.,  left  at  the  end  of  two  days  only  6 
grams  of  moist  fibrin,  and  the  filtered  liquid  gave  an  abundant  precipi- 
tate with  nitric  acid. 
In  another  experiment  100  grams  of  juice  obtained  by  incision  ot 
the  fruit  were  suspended  in  water,  forming  a  thick  pulp,  which  was 
washed  three  times  with  water.  The  washings  were  added  to  the  first 
liquor  and  the  whole  concentrated  in  a  vacuum  and  precipitated  by 
alcohol.    The  papaine  (No.  I.)  so  obtained,  which  was  very  white, 
