i8o 
Enzymes  of  Cow's  Milk. 
{Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1909. 
the  family  of  anaeroxydases.  At  this  same  time  Dupouy,  and  in  the 
following  year  (1898)  W.  Raudnitz,  studied  this  oxydase,  and 
found  that  it  is  present  in  the  milk  of  the  goat,  the  cow,  and  the  ewe, 
and  that  it  is  absent,  or  that  its  action  is  very  weak  in  the  milk  of 
the  ass,  the  mare,  the  dog,  and  in  human  milk.  Marfan  and  Fillet 
have  also  studied  this  ferment,  and  confirm  its  presence  in  the  milk 
of  the  cow. 
"  In  1901  Spolverini  took  up  this  line  of  research  and  recognized 
in  cow's  milk  the  presence  of  pepsin  and  trypsin.  Working  on  milk 
aseptically  treated,  and  in  which  perfect  asepsis  was  maintained  by 
thymol,  he  placed  in  a  drying-stove,  at  1040  R,  various  quantities 
of  milk,  some  acidified  for  the  research  for  pepsin,  others  alkalinized 
for  the  research  for  trypsin.  After  a  certain  time,  he  determined 
the  quantity  of  soluble  albumins  in  it  by  the  biuret  reaction.  A 
boiled  sample  served  as  a  means  of  verification.  By  proceeding  in 
this  manner,  Spolverini  found  that  the  pepsin  and  trypsin  were  to 
be  met  with  in  all  the  milks,  but  were  most  abundant  in  cow's  milk. 
The  proportion  diminishes  in  the  milk  of  the  dog,  the  goat,  human 
milk,  and  that  of  the  ass.  Besides  these  ferments,  of  which  we  have 
already  spoken,  still  another  is  to  be  found,  which  Spolverini  identi- 
fies with  the  glycolytic  ferment  of  the  blood.  If  the  sugar  contained 
in  a  given  quantity  of  fresh  milk  is  determined,  and  the  latter  is 
placed  in  a  drying-stove  at  a  temperature  of  from  380  to  41 0  G, 
and  the  quantity  of  sugar  is  again  determined  after  a  lapse  of 
twenty-four  hours,  it  will  be  found  that  the  quantity  of  sugar  has 
considerably  diminished.  A  portion  has  been  destroyed.  This  is  by 
the  action  of  a  glycolytic  ferment.  This  ferment  shows  itself  fairly 
active  in  cow's  milk,  but  slightly  less  so  in  other  milks.  Moreover, 
in  1901,  Luzzati,  Boilchini,  and  Marfan,  and  in  1902,  Gillet,  as  well 
as  Spolverini,  separated  still  another  ferment  that  belongs  to  the 
family  of  hydrolytic  ferments.  Under  the  influence  of  this  ferment, 
monobutyrin  'resolves  itself  into  butyric  acid  and  glycerin.  These 
authors  operated  by  distilling  a  mixture  of  milk  and  monobutyrin, 
and  in  then  determining  the  acidity  of  the  distilled  products.  They 
encountered  this  reaction  of  splitting  up  monobutyrin  in  the  milks 
of  woman,  dog,  cow,  goat,  and  ass,  stronger  in  the  former,  and  less 
energetic  in  the  latter.  They  have  agreed  upon  giving  this  ferment 
the  name  of  lipase,  a  name  which  Bourquelot  had  given  to  a  ferment 
of  the  same  nature,  which  Hanriot  was  the  first  to  discover  in  the 
blood." 
