468 G ASTRO-INTESTINAL "AUTOINTOXICATION" 



especially under x-ray treatment ; absorption of simple and 

 inflammatory exudates ; and ulcerating pulmonary tuberculosis. l 



It is possible that some of the symptoms of these conditions 

 are due to intoxication with proteoses, for 0.07 to 0.1 gram 

 deutero-albumose will cause a febrile reaction in a healthy man, 2 

 but probably their amount is usually too small to cause appreci- 

 able effects. 3 It is well known, however, that the characteristic 

 rise of temperature following the injection of tuberculin into 

 tuberculous individuals is also produced if minute quantities of 

 proteose solutions are injected in place of tuberculin ; therefore, 

 proteoses arising from autolysis in tuberculosis may be of 

 importance in causing fever and other symptoms. 4 



The so-called " Bence-Jones albumose " that appears in the 

 urine of patients with multiple bone-marrow tumors is not a 

 true albumose, but is more closely related to the simple pro- 

 teids, and is discussed under the head of " Chemistry of 

 Tumors/' pp. 427-430. 



m. PRODUCTS OF PUTREFACTION AND FERMENTATION 5 



We may perhaps gain some appreciation of the enormous 

 amount of bacterial action that goes on in the normal intestinal 

 digestive processes by considering the fact that as much as one- 

 third of the total weight of the solids of normal feces may consist 

 of bacteria (Strasburger), their proportion being increased in 

 diarrheal disorders and decreased in constipation. They attack 

 all food-stuffs, and among the decomposition -products formed 

 through their activity are undoubtedly many of considerable 

 toxicity. Most of the products of intestinal putrefaction that 

 have as yet been isolated are, however, not extremely poisonous ; 

 but many of them are toxic to some degree, and their long- 

 continued absorption may well lead to serious disturbances. 

 Considering them first according to their origin and chemical 

 nature, we take up first the products of: 



1 See Parkinson, Practitioner, 1906 (76), 2i9. 



2 See Matthes, Arch, exper. Path. u. Pharm., 1895 (36), 437. 



3 In a series of unpublished experiments I was unable to cause amyloid de- 

 generation in rabbits by protracted intoxication with proteose solutions. 



4 Simon, Arch. exp. Med., 1903 (49), 449. Concerning relation of tuber- 

 culin to proteoses see review by Jolles in Ott's " Chemische Pathol. der Tuber- 

 culose." 



5 Complete bibliography given in the resume on " Intestinal Putrefaction " 

 by Gerhardt, Ergebnisse der Physiol., 1904 (III, Abt. 1), 107. 



