Ferments and their actions / by Carl Oppenheimer ; Translated from the German by C. Ainsworth Mitchell.

Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Ferments and their actions / by Carl Oppenheimer ; Translated from the German by C. Ainsworth Mitchell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    The coagulated fibrin contains the ferment which, however, is attached not to the fibrin but to the entangled leucocytes. On washing the coagulum with water it passes into solution. Lepine further assumes that this ferment can also become detached from the leucocytes intra vitam. Its formation is a function of the pancreas. When the pancreas is stimulated, e.g., by the removal of the Wirsungian duct, or severing of the nerves, the glycolysis is increased; on extirpation of the pancreas it is said to disappear. The pancreatic vein contains more ferment than the vein of the spleen. Pal,1 however, found that the amount of sugar in the pancreatic vein opposite the artery was not diminished. The cessation of the normal function of the pancreas—i.e., of the glycolytic ferment—is regarded by Lepine as one of the causes of Diabetes mellitus, since in this disease a diminution in the glycolytic capacity of the blood runs parallel with the affection of the pancreas. This does not, however, apply to phloridzin diabetes. In addition to this numerical diminution of the glycolysis, Lepine specially brings forward, in support of his view, an experiment, in which, in the case of a dog made diabetic by the extirpation of the pancreas, he was able to lower the excretion of sugar in the urine by injecting into the circulation normal chyle—i.e., containing ferment. Whilst, then, the existence of a glycolytic ferment has been generally established, the views as to its mode of production, nature, and significance differ widely (Harley,2 Sansoni,3 Gaglio 4). kp Seegen 5 and Arthus6 regard glycolysis as a post-mortem phenomenon. According to Arthus the ferment has its origin in the leucocytes, or as he cautiously expresses it:—“ elements figures autres que les globules rouges.” This receives support from an observation of Hahn,7 who was able to show the probability of an increase of the ferment in hyperleucocytosis. Arthus, in agreement with Colenbrander,8 brings the glycolytic function into close connection with the coagulation of the blood—i.e., the fibrin 1 Pal, Wiener Min. Woch., 4, 1891. 2 Harley, Journal of Physiol., xii., 391. 3 Sansoni, Riforma medica, 1891. 4 Gaglio, Riforma medica, 1891, quoted with the preceding reference by Minkowski, Arch. J. Exp. Path,, xxxi., 175, 1893. I 5 Seegen, Centralbl. f. Phys., v., Nos. 25, 26, 1891. Wiener Min. Woch., 207, 1892. 6 Arthus, Archives d. Phys. [5], iii., 425, 1891 ; [5], iv., 337, 1892. 7 Hahn, Berl. Min. Woch,, 499, 1897. 8 Colenbrander, Maly's Jb., 137, 1892.