THE PARENTERAL INTRODUCTION OF PROTEINS 345 



amount of peptone which had wholly disappeared after 

 four hours. When larger amounts were used a small quantity 

 appeared in the urine, but the proportion eliminated in this 

 way was only a small part of that injected. They also 

 transfused certain organs and tissues with blood to which 

 peptone has been added, and found that the peptone soon 

 disappeared from the blood. These investigators concluded 

 that peptone is soon so changed in the organism that it 

 can no longer be detected by the method which they 

 employed. Whether it is changed directly into albumin 

 or is so altered by cell activity by combining with other 

 substances, they could not decide. They were of the 

 opinion that the capability of effecting this change is not 

 confined to any one organ or tissue, but that it may occur 

 in the liver, muscle, or other tissue. They were quite con- 

 vinced, however, that the conversion is not essentially one 

 of oxidation, since the amount of oxygen in the blood did 

 not affect it. 



Schmidt-Muhlheim 1 injected from 5 to 10 grams of 

 peptone into the jugular vein of dogs and found that the 

 peptone disappeared from the blood within sixteen minutes 

 after completing the injection. He also concluded that the 

 injected peptone undergoes a rapid conversion into albumin 

 and globulin. 



According to Hofmeister, 2 peptone, when injected into 

 the blood, does quickly disappear from that fluid, but is 

 not converted into albumin or globulin. It quickly diffuses 

 through all the tissues undergoing a dilution which is 

 determined by the total fluid in the body, and which is 

 so great that its detection by chemical tests is impossible. 

 Diffusion into the brain results in certain characteristic 

 symptoms, the most marked of which are muscular weak- 

 ness and somnolence. These symptoms may be observed 

 in a 10 kg. dog after the subcutaneous injection of from 

 0.2 to 0.4 gram of peptone, but the fatal dose is large; as 



1 Du Bois Raymond's Arch. f. Phys., 1880. 



2 Zeitsch. f. phys. Chemie, 1881, v, 127. 



