Dextrose

“ In the oxydative disintegration of dextrose, taking place in aërobic organisms, if sufficient quantities of oxygen are present, there occurs a splitting up of the carbohydrate molecule, as a result of the introduction of oxygen, into simpler substances and finally into carbon dioxide and water, just as the dextrose molecule, when subjected to oxydative processes, is split up into simpler molecules. In the living substance the oxydases play the important rôle of oxygen carriers. ”

“ Of Glucoses the best example is dextrose = C6H12O6, H2O, which can be seen crystallised in dried raisins; it only possesses one-third the sweetening power of sucrose. Starchy food becomes changed into glucose by the action of saliva and pancreatic juice in the alimentary canal. ”

“ Maltose is split up by the action of the enzyme maltase into two molecules of dextrose. Maltose, like sucrose, is only with difficulty assimilable, and its conversion into dextrose constitutes an important phase of carbohydrate nutrition. Maltase, like sucrase, is a widely distributed enzyme and is found in many animal and plant tissues. ”

“ Bernard believed the formation of glycogen in the liver to be a vital process, but the formation of dextrose from glycogen to be a simple enzyme action independent of life. This was contrary to the teaching of the time, for all enzyme actions were considered to be inseparable from the living cell. He showed that the blood contains an enzyme capable of forming dextrose from glycogen and suggested that a nervous control of the circulation governs the sugar formation. Comparisons were drawn between the formation of glycogen and sugar in the animal body and starch and sugar in plants. ”

“ Levulose, lactose, and some others are occasionally met with.
(1) Glucose (Dextrose) .—It is probable that traces of glucose, too small to respond to the ordinary tests, are present in the urine in health. Its presence in appreciable amount constitutes "glycosuria."
Transitory glycosuria is unimportant, and may occur in many conditions, as after general anesthesia and [p. 77] administration of certain drugs, in pregnancy, and following shock and head injuries. ”

“ Mix the solution well, pour through a dry filter and determine the dextrose in an aliquot. Conduct a blank determination upon the same volume of the malt extract as used upon the sample, and correct the weight of reduced copper accordingly. The weight of the dextrose obtained multiplied by 0.90 gives the weight of starch. ”

“ The latter, crystallized with water of crystallization, is of two varieties—70 sugar, also known as brewers’ sugar, contains not less than seventy (70) percent of dextrose and not more than eight-tenths (0.8) percent of ash; 80 sugar, climax or acme sugar, contains not less than eighty (80) percent of dextrose and not more than one and one-half (1.5) percent of ash. ”

“ There are present in the blood, however, substances closely related to the peptones, maltose, glycerine, etc.; substances which have in fact been formed from them. During their transfer from the food canal, the dissolved nutrients undergo changes, giving rise to the materials in the blood. Thus are the serum albumin and serum globulin of the blood derived from the peptones and proteoses; the dextrose, from the maltose and other forms of sugar; and the fat droplets, from the glycerine, fatty acid, and soluble soap. ”

“ Glucose (often called also dextrose, fruit sugar, or grape sugar) occurs widely distributed in plants, most commonly in the juices of ripening fruits, where it is usually associated with fructose and sucrose, the two hexoses being easily derived from sucrose by hydrolysis. Glucose is also produced by the hydrolysis of many of the more complex carbohydrates, by the action either of enzymes or of dilute acids; lactose, maltose, raffinose, starch, and cellulose, as well as many glucosides all yielding glucose as one of the products of their hydrolysis. ”

“ Add 1 c.c. of a one per thousand aqueous solution of ferrous sulphate.
4. Add 1 c.c. of a one per thousand solution manganese sulphate.
5. Weigh out 20 grammes dextrose and add to the contents of the flask (dextrose up to 40 grammes may be used for the different organisms) .
6. Steam for twenty minutes, filter.
7. Tube, and sterilise as for nutrient bouillon. [Pg 198]
Beyrinck's Solution. II.— (For growth of Azobacter.)
Proceed as in preparing solution No. I, substituting mannite for dextrose in step 5.
Winogradsky's Solution (for Nitric Organisms) .—
1. Weigh out and mix.
and dissolve in
2. ”

“ Dextrine, deks′trin, n. starch altered by the action of acids, diastase, or heat till it loses its gelatinous character, so called because when viewed through polarised light it turns the plane of polarisation to the right.—n. Dex′trose, a glucose sugar, found in grapes, &c., and manufactured from starch by means of sulphuric acid. ”

“ There are other means of changing starch into dextrine than by heat, one of the most remarkable of which is diastase, a substance found in sprouting grains, which has the power to transform the starch stored in the grain by nature into soluble dextrine, in which form it can be taken up by the young plant for food. The crude starch could not thus be absorbed. The starch which we use as food is of no more value to us than it is to the young plant until it has been changed into dextrine or sugar. ”

“ A weighed quantity of the dextrin is dissolved in cold water, filtered from any insoluble starch, and then the glucose determined directly in the clear filtrate by Fehling's solution. The real dextrin is determined by inverting a portion of the filtered liquid with HCl, and then determining its reducing power. The starch is estimated by inverting a portion of the solid dextrin, and determining the glucose formed by Fehling. After deducting the amounts due to the original glucose and the inverted dextrin present, the residue is calculated as starch. ”

“ The dexter chief point is a point in the right-hand upper corner of the shield, being in the dexter extremity of the chief.
Dex ́trine, or British Gum, (C6H10O5) x, a generic name applied to soluble gummy substances intermediate between starch and glucose. They are prepared from starch by the aid of dilute mineral acids or of enzymes, and are usually named according to the colour they give with iodine, e.g. erythro-dextrine, &c. When heated with dilute acids, they are transformed into glucose. They are white, odourless substances, and are good substitutes for gum-arabic. ”

“ Postage stamp mucilage can be made by dissolving an ounce of dextrine in five ounces of hot water, and adding one ounce of acetic acid and one ounce of alcohol. The dextrine should be dissolved in water in a glue pot, or some similar vessel, which will prevent burning. The quantities in this recipe may be varied by taking any required weights in the proportions mentioned. Dr. Phin says that dextrine mixed with water makes a good label mucilage if a drop or two of glycerine be added to it. Too much glycerine will prevent the mucilage drying; with too little it will be likely to crack. ”

“ When the body is enervated, elimination is checked. This, in turn, results in a retention of toxins in the blood--the condition which we speak of as toxemia. This state produces a crisis which is nothing more than heroic or extraordinary efforts by the body to eliminate waste or toxin from the blood. It is this crisis which we term disease. Such accumulation of toxin when once established, will continue until nerve energy has been restored to normal by removing the cause. So-called disease is nature's effort to eliminate toxin from the blood. All so-called diseases are crises of toxemia. ”

“ Allen’s Test.—Make the test for dextrine which is present in commercial glucose, but not in pure honey. Dilute a portion of the honey with an equal volume of water and add methyl alcohol with constant stirring until there is a permanent turbidity. If glucose syrup is present a heavy gummy precipitate will soon form. Genuine honey gives only a slight milkiness.
GELATIN
Dilute a portion of the sample and add a solution of tannic acid. A precipitate indicates the presence of gelatin. ”

“ Diastase determines the change from starch to dextrine and sugar—saccharification; yeast, the change from sugar to alcohol—fermentation; mother of vinegar, the change from alcohol to acetic acid—acetification; and a peculiar mould, the change from acetic acid to CO2 and water. But what is far more wonderful and significant is, that, associated with each of these ferments, except diastase, and therefore with each of these descensive changes, except the change from starch to sugar, or saccharification, there is a peculiar [Pg 185] form of life. ”

“ In the case of the susceptible animal the receptors of the cells of the different organs combine with the toxine to a greater or less extent, which explains the fact that different degrees of injury are produced in the different tissues; the toxine of tetanus, or lockjaw, for example, combines by preference with the nervous tissue, that of diphtheria with the lymphatic tissue. It is known that in accordance with the general law of injury and repair, a loss in any part of the body stimulates the tissue of the same kind to new growth and the loss is thus repaired ”

“ The flowers contain a yellow colouring matter, mucilage, and sugar. In Germany they are given with the rest of the plant for dropsy, jaundice, piles, and some diseases of the skin. Gerard says: "The decoction openeth the stoppings of the liver, and spleen: and is singular good against the jaundice which is of long continuance." He advises an ointment made from the plant stampt with lard for certain skin eruptions, and a decoction made with four drachms of the herb in eight ounces of boiling water. The bruised leaves are useful externally for curing blotches on the face, and for piles. ”

“ The principal conclusion which I would draw from this paper is that our study of the results of the treatment of over seven thousand cases of diphtheria by antitoxin demonstrates beyond all reasonable doubt that antidiphtheric serum is a specific curative agent for diphtheria, surpassing in its efficacy all other known methods of treatment for this disease. It is the duty of the physician to use it. ”

“ If not too much of the toxin is given, instead of injuring, it acts as a chemical stimulus to the cell in the manner already described. The cell in response produces more of the specific thing, which in this instance is more receptors which can combine with the toxin, i.e., with its haptophore group. If the stimulus is kept up, more and more of these receptors are produced until an excess for the cell accumulates, which excess is excreted from the individual cell and becomes free in the blood. ”

“ The original diphtheria serum employed was not concentrated; so when a sufficient amount of antitoxic units to neutralize the toxins of the disease under treatment was employed, a large quantity of serum had to be injected. Experience shows that the injection of any foreign blood serum into an animal is followed by a certain amount of haemolysis, or blood destruction, and by {347} certain cutaneous manifestations, such as urticaria, erythemata, the familiar hives-like eruption and red itchy spots, which prove a great source of annoyance. ”

“ As soon as the diphtheria germ begins to grow in a throat, the little cells of the body begin to make a certain substance and to pour it into the blood. This substance we call antitoxin, which means opposed to the toxin in the blood. If the little cells make the substance fast enough, the germs will stop growing, or in some cases they never really get started growing, because they cannot exist where there is much antitoxin. ”

“ Adult patients have described the relief afforded by inoculation; it acts like a charm, and lifts the deadly feeling of oppression off like a cloud in the course of a few hours. Finally, the counteracting effect of antitoxin in preventing the disintegrating action of the diphtheritic toxin on the nervous tissues has been demonstrated pathologically. ”

“ As a result, we become depressed, weak, tired and retain little bodily warmth. Digestion is upset, metabolism falls far below normal, and the skin becomes pale, because of the morbid action set up in the mucous membrane by the excess of negative electrons. Catarrh supervenes. This is the condition in which negative disease thrives best: Influenza, nervous debility, anaemia, sleeping disease, cholera, diphtheria and the rest, in all varied forms of negative disease. ”

“ British gum or dextrine is prepared by heating starch. It varies considerably in composition—sometimes being only slightly roasted and consequently only partly converted into dextrine, and at other times being highly torrefied, and almost completely soluble in cold water and very dark in colour. Its thickening power decreases and its “ gummy ” nature increases as the temperature at which it is roasted is raised. ”

“ By the introduction of fresh toxin the process is repeated and the regeneration of side-chains is increased. Ultimately the regeneration becomes an over-regeneration and free side-chains produced in excess are set free and appear in the blood as antitoxin molecules. In other words the substances, which when forming part of the cells fix the toxin to the cells, constitute antitoxin molecules when free in the serum. ”

“ The action of these intracellular toxins has in many instances nothing characteristic, but is merely in the direction of producing fever and interfering with the vital processes of the body generally, these disturbances often going on to a fatal result. In other words, the toxins of different bacteria are closely similar in their results on the body and the features of the corresponding diseases are largely regulated by the vital properties of the bacteria, their distribution in the tissues, &c. ”