f 



THE PARENTERAL INTRODUCTION OF PROTEINS ' 353 



body. When a milk diet is presented, casein may in 

 some instances be found in the urine. The prohibition of 

 egg diet in albuminuria is justified. 



The statement that the injection of a foreign protein 

 leads to the exudation of the normal proteins of the blood, 

 as made by Chiray, is interesting, and if confirmed it may 

 be found to be of marked importance. It has been prac- 

 tically confirmed by Wolf, 1 who found that the proteins 

 of the plasma were diminished by the injection of Witte's 

 peptone in 11 out of 14 tests. 



Oppenheimer 2 estimated that as much as 49 per cent, 

 of egg-white injected intravenously or intra-abdominally 

 in rabbits is eliminated in the urine. However, he does not 

 claim any great exactness for this work, because he is aware 

 of the fact that all the protein in the urine does not come 

 from that injected, and that a part of it is serum albumin. 

 It is probable that the latter makes up the larger part. 



Castaigne and Chiray 3 hold that heterologous proteins 

 injected subcutaneously are absorbed and eliminated in 

 the urine unchanged. They act as poisons, causing destruc- 

 tion of the proteins of the blood and increased elimination 

 of nitrogen, urea, and sulphur. The decrease in the normal 

 proteins of the blood may be as high as from 1 to 3 per 

 cent. This is not due to hydremia as shown by determina- 

 tion of total solids. Repeated injections of heterologous 

 proteins, either subcutaneously or intravenously, lead to 

 cachexia. 



Nobecourt 4 introduced egg-white into the alimentary 

 canal of rabbits. He used 46 animals, 31 adults, weighing 

 from 1650 to 2270 grams and 15 young, weighing from 

 320 to 1030 grams. These received by the stomach or 

 rectum from 5 to 13 c.c. of egg-white, at each injection 

 at intervals of one, three, seven, ten, and fifteen days. 

 The mortality was as follows: 



1 Arch. int. Phys., iii, 343. 



2 Hofmeister's Beitrage, iv, 263. 



3 Compt. rend. Soc. biol., 1906, lx, 218. 

 < Ibid., 1909, xlvi, 850. 



23 



