Biochemical studies of sulfocyanates ... / By Max Kahn.

  • Kahn, Max, 1887-1926.
Date:
1912
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Biochemical studies of sulfocyanates ... / By Max Kahn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    the saliva, pancreatic juice, bile and urine. In the sub- maxillary saliva, pancreatic juice and bile the concentration is always less than, and appears to depend upon, the con- centration in the blood. The concentration in the urine, on the other hand, he said, may be greater or less than the concentration in the blood, and is diminished by sodium sulfate diuresis. He also noticed that sulfocyanates in the food are readily absorbed and remain as such in the body for a considerable time. After injection or feeding, the parotid saliva contains less sulfocyanate than the sub- maxillary, and still less than the blood serum. Brubaker1 seems to agree with Gscheidlen, but is more certain than the latter author, for he states in his text book that the sulfocyanates in the body were derived from the secretions of the parotid glands only. Some authors have thought it possible that the rhodanates in the saliva were a kind of vicarious excretion, similar to the excretion of urea in saliva in cases of nephritis.2 What is the chemical origin of the sulfocyanates in the living body? This indeed is a question the answer to which it is very difficult to give. Theories galore have been ad- vanced and objected to on this question. Funke in 18583 gave up in despair the attempt to solve this problem. Florian4 essayed, but also was unable to give a satisfactory answer. The only thing that he became convinced of finally was that the thiocyanates are a constant and normal com- ponent of the saliva. Bruylants5 endeavored to prepare the sulfocyanic acid from proteids. He took egg albumin and serum albumin as his starting materials. His researches were crowned with success. The procedures that he followed were three in number: (a) Dry distillation of the albumin gave him a yield of 0.205-0.224 per cent. (6) Fusion with potassium hydroxide or (c) boiling with the same hydrate, gave somewhat better results. It must be noticed here 1 Brubaker: Text Book of Physiology, 1908, p. 156. 2 Leube: Deutsche Arch. f. Clin. Med., 1904, lxvi, p. 80. 3 Funke: Lehrbuch d. Physiol., 1858, p. 220. * Florian: Gaz. medicalle de Paris, 1884, p. 354 and 1889, p. 317. '■ Bruylants: Loc. cit.