enzyme

Updated: May 22, 2025

The latter are dissolved in the water and include, besides several salts, three active chemical agents—hydrochloric acid, pepsin, and rennin. Pepsin is the enzyme which acts upon proteids, but it is able to act only in an acid medium—a condition which is supplied by the hydrochloric acid. Mixed with the hydrochloric acid it converts the proteids into peptones and proteoses.

Francis M. (Francis Marion) Walters - Physiology and Hygiene for Secondary Schools