Abstract
Of the many suggestions brought forward with regard to the chemistry of the process by which the hydrochloric acid of the gastric juice is produced, one by Maley 1 has certain things in its favor which cannot be said of the others. This relates to the interaction of disodium phosphate and calcium chloride with the production of hydrochloric acid and tricalcium phosphate. Probably what really takes place when solutions of these are mixed, is the formation of acid Ca phosphate which hydrolyzes rapidly at room temperature to form a basic calcium phosphate and an acid phosphate containing more phosphoric acid than the monophosphate. The latter may be considered to act upon the calcium chloride with production of free hydrochloric acid. Maley showed that free HC1 could be dialyzed from such a mixture, which we have confirmed also by distillation with or without the addition of manganese dioxide. In the former case abundant chlorine is liberated. Fatal objections to the theory in its original form are that there is no adequate supply of calcium chloride in the organism for this purpose and that no provision was made for removal of the insoluble triple phosphate which must be formed. The source of chlorine ions can not be other than the NaCl of the blood. It can be shown that NaCl is decomposed by acid calcium phosphate but not by acid sodium phosphate. That acid calcium phosphate can be produced in the body is indicated by facts given in another place. 2 Nuclei contain much Cak and as this is not present in the inorganic form and as nucleins are with difficulty if at all separated from it, apparently it exists in combination with nucleic acids. This being the case and as phosphonuclease has been shown to be present in nearly all tissues the splitting off of acid Ca phosphate presents no great theoretical difficulty.
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