PROTEIN METABOLISM 87 



the opinion that there was a change from peptone into albumen, 

 but instead of the adenoid tissue they accredited the reaction to 

 the epithelial cells of the small intestine. On the other hand, as 

 regards Hofmeister's statements as to the part the leucocytes 

 played in the various assimilative processes, a good deal of 

 work has been done. Pohl * showed that during digestion 

 there was a very marked leucocytosis, and, further, he stated 

 that there was an excess of leucocytes in the mesenteric veins 

 over the corresponding mesenteric arteries during digestion of 

 proteids. This latter statement was controverted by Paton, 

 Goodall, and Gulland, 2 .who stated that no difference could be 

 detected between the two. Erdely 3 recently confirmed Hof- 

 meister's statement that the intestinal wall is richer in leuco- 

 cytes when the animal has been well fed than when a fasting 

 animal is examined. Erdely even goes so far as to suggest 

 that the nature of the leucocytosis varies with the changes in 

 diet. Paton and his co-workers have also demonstrated that 

 there is a true post-prandial leucocytosis in which the lympho- 

 cytes showed a marked percentage increase. There is also 

 some increase in the polymorphs, but there is practically no 

 change in the number of the eosinophiles. They differ, how- 

 ever, from Hofmeister as regards the site of origin of the 

 leucocytes : instead of arising, as Hofmeister said, from the 

 intestinal lymphatic tissue, Paton and Goodall 4 proved that 

 the white cells came from the bone marrow. 



1 Pohl, Schmiedeberg's Archiv, 25, 1889, 31. 



2 Goodall, Gulland, and Paton, Jo urn. of Physiology, 30, 1903, 1. 



3 Erdely, Zeit. f. Biol. 46, 1905, 119. 



4 Goodall and Paton, Journ. of Physiology, ■$*$, 1905, 20. 



