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,? .who stated that no difference could be 
detected between the two. Erdély* 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. Erdély 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‘ proved that 
the white cells came from the bone marrow. 
1 Pohl, Schmiedebere’s Archiv, 25, 1889, 31. 
? Goodall, Gulland, and Paton, Journ. of Physiology, 30, 1903, I. 
3 Erdély, Zett. f. Biol. 46, 1905, 119. 
* Goodall and Paton, Journ. of Phystology, 33, 1905, 20. 
