ox THE rHYS10L0(il('AL Kl'I'KCTS OF PEPTONE. 531 



llie Fhijsioloijkul JEJf'eds of Peptone and its Precursors tvlien introduced 



into the Circulation. — Interim Report of a Committee, consistinr/ of 



p Professor E. A. Schafek, F.B.S. (Chairman), Professor C. S. 



Sherrington, F.B.S., Professor 11. W. Boyce and Professor W. H. 



Thompson (Secretary). (T)ruwn xip lij the Secretary.) 



The present report is to be regarded as a continuation of work the first 

 results of which were communicated by the Secretary of this Committee 

 to the British Association (Section I) at its meeting in Liverpool last 

 year, and afterwards published in the ' Journal of Physiology,' vol. xx., 

 December 1896, p. 455.^ 



The chief conclusions then arrived at concerned the effects of Witte's 

 ^peptone,' and were — (1) That this substance in small doses — below 

 0'0'2 grm. per kilo — hastens the coagulation of blood in the dog, while in 

 larger doses retardation is brought about, as other investigators have 

 found. (2) That the well-known fall of blood-pressure produced by this 

 substance when injected into the circulation is due to a peripheral influ- 

 ence upon the neuro-muscular apparatus of the blood-vessels. Ko 

 influence on the vaso-motor centre was detected. (3) That the vaso- 

 dilating influence of Witte's ' peptone ' is not confined to vessels of the 

 splanchnic region, but extends to other vessels also. 



This last conclusion was arrived at in an indirect way by observing the 

 effects of Witte's ' peptone ' on carotid blood- pressure when injected during 

 excitation of the spinal cord (after complete section), at the level of the 

 third cervical vertebra, the great sjDlanchnics on both sides having been 

 previously divided. Neither time nor circumstances had then permitted 

 the checking of this result by similar injections made during excitation 

 of the sciatics, nor of the observation of pletKysmographic variations of 

 limb volume under similar conditions of experiment. 



Accordingly, in the work carried out during the past year which has 

 been entrusted to the Secretary, this was the first point to which attention 

 was given. A similar method of observation Avas then applied in turn to 

 the effects of Witte's ' peptone ' on the blood-vessels of the kidney and 

 spleen. This was succeeded by an analysis of the effects (a) on blood - 

 coagulation, (b) on general blood-pressure and peripheral vaso-motor 

 mechanism, (c) on local vascular areas (limb, kidney, spleen) of the follow- 

 ing substances — pure peptone, anti-peptone, deutei'o-albumose, proto- 

 albumose and hetero-albumose. The investigation as regards the latter two 

 substances is aji yet too incomplete for publication, nor indeed can it be 

 looked upon as more than preliminary for any of the substances mentioned. 



The contents of the present abstract may therefore be summarised as 

 follows : — 



I. Effects of Witters peptoiie — ■ 



(a) On the blood-vessels of the limb ; 

 (1)) On the blood-vessels of the kidney ; 

 (c) On the blood-vessels of the spleen. 



' Thompson, ' Contribution to the Physiological Effects of " Peptone " when in- 

 jected into the Circulation,' Journ. of I'liysiohf/ij, vol. xx. December 189G, p. 455. 



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