Report to the Local Government Board upon the "biological properties" of milk, both of the human species, and of cows, considered in special relation to the feeding of infants / by Janet E. Lane-Claypon.

Janet Lane-Claypon

Date:: 1913

Credit: Report to the Local Government Board upon the "biological properties" of milk, both of the human species, and of cows, considered in special relation to the feeding of infants / by Janet E. Lane-Claypon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$tissues tliey examined. Becami) showed that fibrin was very ricli in this siibstanee, and that it could split many times its own volume of hydrog-en peroxide. Babcook(0 (1889) discovered that milk decomi)Osed hydrogen peroxide in varying quantities and, apparently owing to the work of Becamp, concluded that fibrin must be presejit in milk, altliough lie was quite unable to demonstrate its presen(*e. Bab- co(*k also found that the strippings were the most active parts of the milk in this reaction, but he did not think that there was any definite relationshi]) between the intensity of the reaction and the tat content, siiu'e tlie action persisted even after the cream had been removed. Colostrum was from 10 to 15 times as active as ordinary milk. Babcock pointed out that in estimating the amount of gas evolved by the action of the ferment, it was necessary to shake constantly in order to obtain accurate results. Later, Babcock working with Bussell(^’ on the ripening of cheese, prepared a ferment solution from milk which had pro- teolytic activities, and also had the power of splitting hydrogen peroxide. They concluded that this was another aspect of the activity of the proteolytic ferment; later again, they found that this solution also gave the peroxidase reaction, and considered that this last reaction could be taken as a measure of the catalytic activity of the solution. Eaudnitz(^^^) (1898) found catalase present in cows’ milk, and considered that it must be different from peroxidase because it was present in human milk {cp. p. 13). Also he showed that peroxidase and catalase had different reactions towards precipi- tating agents. Lepinois(^^\) (1899) came to the same conclusions as Eaudnitz, namely, that the different reactions are due to twm ferments, because in solutions of tissue extracts which gave both the cata- lase.and the peroxidase reactions, (<2) heating to 70° C., destroyed the power of the solution to split hydrogen peroxide, but did not affect the oxidising power, and (b) in fresh extracts if alcohol be used as a precipitant it is possible to obtain a precipitate which has catalysing but not oxidising powers. StorchO®^) (1899), who apparently did not consider that the reactions w^ere due to separate bodies, was able to prepare a solu- tion of lactalbumin, which had been dried at 40° C. and showed catalytic but not oxidising power. Barthel(“^) (1899) considered that the catalytic action described by Babcock and Eussell was due to the leucocytes, which were not, however, the only constituents of the blood to i)ossess this property. In 1901 Loew’(^'|''^) published his well-known paper on catalase, which, although it does not deal directly with the catalase of milk, contains many points which are of sufficient imix)rtance for it to be necessary to deal briefly with his work. He suggested the term catalase for this ferment, and subsequently upheld this term in ])reference to ‘‘ superoxydase.” Loew showed that the power of splitting hydrogen peroxide must be distinct from that of oxidising, since extracts could be pre-$