704 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



i-itioii ami ciu'rtry valiu- of tliu Unn\ and the iiiconif and ontgo of iiitrofion were 

 (k'tt-riniiiid. 



The authors lielii've tlie experiment showK " that the nitrogenous substances in the 

 diet were not iiiiinediati'iy and wholly converted into urea and excreted; that they 

 were, on the contrary, to a considerable extent retained; and that portion which was 

 exi)ended (appearin}; in the urine) exerted a marked i)roteid-si)aring action. These 

 reactions seem to us, however, to afford a sullicient explanation of the facts without 

 invoking the more radical hypothesis of proteid synthesis. The diminution in the 

 nitrogen excretion from 1.9 gm. in the fore period to 0.8 gm. in the after p(>riod of 

 fasting suggests that the proto{)lasmic waste had not been made good, and that the 

 retention of nitrogen is not in itself a proof of proteid synthesis." 



New experiments on the physiolog'ical action of the proteoses, F. P. Under- 

 Hii.i, (Amcr. Jour. I'lu/niuL, 9{lD0.i), No. 6, pp. 34o--37S, pi. i).— Experiments with 

 dogs were made to determine the effects of intravenous injections of typical native 

 proteids, proteoses prepared l)y the digestion of animal proteids with vegetable enzy ins, 

 proteoses prepared from proteids and enzyms both of vegetable origin, and proteoses 

 prepared from vegetable proteids by hydrolysis with acids or superheated water. 

 Some tests were also made as to the causes of the toxic effects which have been 

 attributed by other investigators to the injection of proteids. Some of the author's 

 principal c inclusions follow: 



"There is at present no occasion for attributing the physiological effects following 

 the injection of proteoses into the circulation to the presence of contaminating sub- 

 stances derived from animal tissue or elsewhere. Typical purified vegetaljle proteids 

 Avhich, when injected are themselves inert in this regard, yield on hydrolysis with 

 acids, or even water alone, proteoses which provoke the characteristic reactions. 

 The proteoses which are formed by the action of proteolytic enzyms of vegetable 

 origin (bromelin, papain) on purified proteids, likewise alter in viro the coagulability 

 of the blood and call forth the other well-known symptoms of proteose injections. 



"The proteoses occurring in nature in the vegetable kingdom are similarly active, 

 as was to be expected if the toxic properties are a function of these products ])rr xe. 

 No method of 'purification' has been found which will deprive proteoses of this 

 characteristic i)hysiological behavior in the circulation; when the chemical make-up 

 of the proteoses is profoundly altered and they lose their chemical identity, the 

 tyi)ical physiological action may also be lost. . . . Recent studies on immunity have 

 shown equally striking natural differences among animals, and have again emphasized 

 the influence which the mode of introduction of toxins may exert." 



Concerning- the tryptic digestion of gelatin, T. R. Kroger {Ztschr. Plnjslol. 

 Clinn., .3S [lf)03). No. 3-4, pp. 320-322). — A chemical study of the peptone i)roduced 

 l)y the action of tryptic ferment on gelatin is briefly reported. 



On the formation of glycogen from glycoproteids and other proteids, L. B. 

 Stookey {Amer. Jour. Physiol, 9 {1903), No. 3, pp. 138-146). — The possibility of the 

 formation of glycogen from proteids was studied with hens, the proteids selected 

 ])eing ovomucoid, pancreas nucleoproteid, chondrin, syntonin, casein, sodium casein 

 (alone and with saccharose), and leucin. Some of the author's conclusions follow: 



"The outcome of the feeding experiments with those substances which yield 

 carbohydrate cleavage products — ovomucoid, pancreas nucleoproteid, chondrin — 

 scarcely permits any positive conclusion to be drawn. In some of the more satis- 

 factory trials, where the period of feeding was more prolonged and the utilization 

 of the food was apparently better, appreciable quantities of glycogen were found. 

 These do not, however, exceed in amount the maximum glycogen content (0.97 per 

 cent) which has been . . . [previously noted in the liver of the fasting hen]; 

 although, like the writer, most other investigators have noted very small quantities 

 onlv. . . . 



