CERTAIN DERIVATIVES OF THE PROTEIDS. 285 



In a recent paper from this laboratory * attention was called 

 to the action of deuteroalbumose and peptone obtained by the 

 proteolysis of egg-albumin with papam. The experiments 

 showed an immediate lowering of blood-pressure when these 

 products, in doses of 0.5 gram per kilo of body-weight, were 

 injected into the circulation, the pressure, however, soon 

 returning to the normal. 



Thompson f has investigated the specific action of Witte's 

 "pepton" on the vasomotor system, and more recently this 

 study has been extended J to include the action of pure peptone, 

 antipeptone, and deuteroalbumose, although the details of 

 these latter experiments have not yet been published. The 

 results obtained agree in a general way with those already 

 recorded by Grosjean. They indicate, however, that smaller 

 doses of these products than has generally been supposed, 

 suffice to produce physiological effects. It is furthermore 

 definitely shown that lowering of arterial pressure is due to a 

 vascular dilatation as the result of a peripheral or local action 

 on the blood-vessels. No central nervous influences could be 

 demonstrated. This vasomotor action is not confined to the 

 splanchnic area, but is common to all the blood-vessels, and is 

 exercised presumably upon the endings of the vasomotor 

 nerves and on the muscles of the blood-vessels, the decreased 

 irritability of the neuro-muscular apparatus making the latter 

 incapable of responding to the normal vase-constrictor 

 impulses. In addition, it is to be noted that Thompson 

 observed that deuteroproteose produced a far more profound 

 and enduring influence on arterial pressure than pure peptone, 

 but less so than the same dose of Witte's " pepton." Hence, 

 deuteroproteose cannot be regarded as the most potent con- 

 stituent of Witte's " pepton," a statement which agrees with 

 Pollitzer's observations. Lastly, in agreement with other 



* Chittenden, Mendel, and McDermott, Amer. Jour. Physiol., 1898, i, p. 256. 



t Thompson, Journal of Physiology, 1896, xx, p. 465. 



t Thompson, Interim report of a committee consisting of Professors 

 Schafer, Sherrington, Boyce, and Thompson. Report by the Secretary of the 

 British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1896-97. 



Pollitzer, Journal of Physiology, 1886, yii, p. 283. 



