260 INFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 



of a dead foetus or an abscess, I believe that indicanuria 

 always points to absorption of indol from the intestinal 

 tract. There is no convincing evidence that the autoly- 

 sis of organs during life yields indol, and I think that 

 such a source may be regarded as a negligible factor in 

 dealing with cases of indicanuria. Admitting, however, 

 that indicanuria is of intestinal origin, it remains to be 

 explained why it is present in some cases of intestinal 

 disturbance and not in others. A wholly satisfactory 

 answer to this question is not at the present time possible. 

 Some facts which bear on the problem maybe stated here. 

 It has been claimed by Pizenti and others that the pres- 

 ence of pancreatic juice is essential to the production of 

 indicanuria. This claim is based on the fact that indol is 

 a product of proteolytic cleavage. The proteid food en- 

 tering the intestine is supposed to be attacked vigorously 

 by the abundant tryptic ferment of the pancreatic 

 juice, and this decomposition is presumed to reach so 

 advanced a stage as to lead to the indol production from 

 which the indicanuria arises. While it is true that 

 indol is a product of proteid cleavage, I think it ex- 

 tremely doubtful whether there is an opportunity for the 

 process of cleavage to go so far as to yield indol, unless 

 the quantity of proteid food is largely excessive and thus 

 delays absorption. Ordinarily absorption occurs in the 

 peptone and amino-acid stage of proteolytic digestion. 

 It is not conceivable that in the absence of putrefactive 

 bacteria from the small intestine a rapidly proteolyzed 

 meal should lead to the formation of indol in the intestine, 

 since indol does not arise from tryptic digestion. It has 



