252 PROTEIN POISONS 



investigators. There is spasmodic contraction of the muscles 

 of the bronchioles. This is independent of central injury, 

 or, in other words, is due to peripheral action, and is pre- 

 vented or relieved by the intravenous administration of 

 atropine in doses of from 1 to 10 nig., provided the drug is 

 given before the heart stops. In anaphylactic shock in 

 guinea-pigs there is a primary rise in blood pressure, 

 which after an intravenous reinjection lasts from thirty 

 seconds to two minutes. This is followed by a sudden 

 fall which may go as low as 20 or even 10 mm. of mercury. 

 But the fall in blood pressure is not the cause of death. 

 It is on account of the difference in action of the anaphyl- 

 actic poison in guinea-pigs and dogs that the symptoms in 

 the two species vary. The sudden onset, the stormy progress, 

 and the fatal ending of the symptoms in guinea-pigs are 

 seldom or never seen in dogs. In the former, spasmodic 

 contraction of the bronchioles prevents the expiration of 

 the air, and when the lungs are laid bare they are seen to 

 fill the thoracic cavity; they do not collapse, and are pale 

 and bloodless. Biedl and Kraus have shown that these 

 conditions, characteristic of anaphylactic intoxication in 

 guinea-pigs, result also when guinea-pigs are poisoned with 

 peptone. Besides, fatal poisoning with peptone may be 

 prevented by the intravenous injection of atropine. Thus, 

 it is shown that in these animals also the anaphylactic 

 poison is identical, physiologically at least, with the active 

 constitutent of Witte's peptone. In dogs this poison par- 

 alyzes the vessel muscles of the splanchnic region, while 

 in guinea-pigs it stimulates the constrictor muscles of the 

 bronchioles. 



Biedl and Kraus, having come to the conclusion that 

 anaphylactic intoxication and peptone poisoning are iden- 

 tical, discuss the poisonous property of peptone. Pick and 

 Spiro state that there are peptones which do not lower the 

 blood pressure or lessen the coagulability of the blood, and 

 that there are digestive products containing no albumose 

 or peptone, or only traces of either, which do induce these 

 poisonous effects. They conclude that they are peptones 



