Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  1880. 
Japanese  Isinglass, 
573 
These  characters,  as  will  be  seen,  are  those  of  albuminoid  matters, 
with  some  variations,  especially  in  respect  to  corrosive  sublimate  and 
subacetate  of  lead. 
In  its  action  upon  albuminoid  matters  papaine  approaches  the  pan- 
creatic ferment  named  trypsine,"  by  M.  KUhne,  who  has  made  a 
careful  study  of  it.  Unlike  pepsin,  trypsine  appears  to  approach  the 
albuminoid  matters  ;  its  action  upon  the  latter  appears  to  be  more 
energetic  than  that  of  papaine.  Papaine  dissolves  large  quantities  of 
fibrin  rapidly,  even  in  a  neutral  liquid  ;  but  to  get  a  liquor  that  will  not 
give  a  precipitate  with  nitric  acid  it  is  necessary  to  use  a  relatively  large 
quantity  of  papaine — for  example,  0*3  gram  for  10  grams  of  moist 
fibrin — and  to  prolong  the  digestion  at  50°C.  during  twenty-four  hours. 
In  this  case  there  remains  only  an  insignificant  residue  of  dyspeptone, 
very  rich  in  mineral  matters,  and  the  filtered  solution  gives  with  nitric 
acid  only  a  slight  turbidity,  that  may  be  due  to  an  excess  of  the  fer- 
ment. Moreover,  in  all  these  digestions,  besides  the  bodies  precipi- 
table  by  nitric  acid  and  by  alcohol,  there  is  formed  a  certain  quantity 
of  more  hydrated  peptones  that  are  soluble  in  ordinary  alcohol,  especi- 
ally with  heat. 
The  rapidity  with  which  solutions  of  papaine  become  filled  with 
microbes  induced  M.  Wurtz  to  ascertain  whether  they  intervene  in  the 
rapid  liquefaction  of  fibrin  by  this  ferment,  but  he  finds  that  nothing 
of  the  kind  occurs. 
The  solution  of  fibrin  by  papaine  takes  place  in  the  presence  of 
prussic  acid,  boric  acid,  and  even  carbolic  acid  ;  that  is  to  say,  in  con- 
ditions that  exclude  the  formation  of  microbes. 
In  conclusion,  M.  Wurtz  adds  that  he  has  separated  from  the  juice 
of  Car'ica  papaya  a  fatty  saponifiable  substance  and  a  crystallizable 
nitrogenous  principle  m  white  mamelons.  These  remain  in  solution  in 
the  liquor  from  which  crude  papaine  has  been  precipitated.  Further 
information  on  this  subject  will  be  given  in  a  future  paper. — Pharm, 
your,  and  Trans.,,  -^^g-  1880. 
JAPANESE  ISINGLASS.i 
This  substance,  known  in  China  and  Japan  under  the  name  of 
Tjintiow,  has  been  described  by  Hanbury^  as  occurring  in  two  forms, 
1  Abstract  of  a  paper  by  Dr.  Leon   Marchand  in   the  "Bulletin   de  la  Soc. 
Botanique  de  France"  [2],  i.,  287. 
Hanbury,  "Science  Papers,"  1876. 
