The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 2 of 2Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry (American Medical Association)
Science
The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 2 of 2
Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry (American Medical Association)
Patent medicines
Report of Referee A
In view of the manufacturer’s reiteration of the claims for
Lactopeptine powder, I have carried out further experiments to
determine its proteolytic and amylolytic power.
For the proteolytic test I used fresh, well washed fibrin and examined
samples of Lactopeptine powder numbered as follows:
No. 1. A part of the English product examined and reported on last
spring.
No. 2.--A fresh bottle obtained at a Chicago retail drug store in
December, 1913.
No. 3. A fresh bottle obtained at a Chicago retail store in December,
1913.
Portions of 1 gm. each of these samples were mixed with 5 gm. fibrin,
100 mg. of sodium carbonate and 50 c.c. of water in flasks. A little
toluene was added to each flask, which was then closed with a tuft
of cotton and the mixtures were incubated at 40 degrees through
twenty-four hours. At the end of that time there was no marked change
in the quantity of the fibrin remaining in each flask, the larger part
by far being undigested.
As a control I used the sample of an active commercial trypsin, of
which I added 500 mg. to the same quantity of water, fibrin and sodium
carbonate. This was digested in the same bath at the same time. The
digestion was practically completed in less than ten minutes, only
minute flakes of the fibrin remaining.
It is evident that the digestive power of the Lactopeptine must be
extremely low, and only a small fraction of that exhibited by a
commercially good trypsin.
In an experiment with the English sample carried out through nineteen
hours as above, using 2 gm. of fibrin and 100 mg. of ferment, it was
found by nitrogen tests on the filtrate that about 12.2 per cent.
of the protein had been brought into solution, an amount which is
practically without importance in a digestion of such duration.
To test the starch digestive power I have made a large number of
experiments. In a series just completed I mixed 1 gm. portions of
Samples 1 and 2 with water to make 100 c.c. volumes. Before making
up to the final volumes 0.5 c.c. of normal sodium hydroxid was
added to neutralize the slight acidity of the ferment as shown by
phenolphthalein.
Of these mixtures 4, 6, 8 and 10 c.c. portions were mixed with 50 c.c.
of 1 per cent. starch paste and incubated at 40 degrees to find the
colorless end-point in the starch digestion, by the iodin test.
At the end of twenty-two hours the iodin reaction was as strong as at
the beginning, indicating no appreciable starch digestion.
To the flasks in which no digestion had taken place under these
conditions, 5 mg. of a pancreas ferment was added. This gave an almost
immediate conversion to the colorless end-point. This ferment was a
sample of Holadin which had been in the laboratory about a year. The
5 mg. completed the reaction to the colorless end-point in less than
ten minutes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account