On the Origin of Glycocoll in the Animal Body, ioi 
62 (587) 
On the origin of glycocoll in the animal body. 
By A. I. RINGER. 
[From the Physiological Laboratory, Cornell University Medical 
College, New York City.] 
The various forms of protein, with the exception of casein 
and gelatin, contain about four per cent, of their N in the form of 
preformed glycocoll N. On giving benzoic acid or its salts to ani- 
mals, they have the power of detoxicating it by combining it with 
glycocoll and forming hippuric acid. 
About eleven years ago, Parker and Lusk employed this fact 
in an attempt to determine the maximum amount of hippuric 
acid that rabbits can produce. They studied the relationship 
between the total N in the urine and the glycocoll N eliminated 
as hippuric acid, HN/N. They found that for every 100 grams of 
total N excreted in the urine, an average of about 4 grams of N 
was eliminated in the glycocoll radical of the hippuric acid. After 
administering the first large dose of lithium benzoate to the animals, 
they invariably obtained a much higher HN/N ratio, 9.01 per cent, 
in experiment III., 7.14 per cent, in experiment IV., and 7.87 
per cent, in experiment VI. They regarded this as a " sweeping 
out" of surplus glycocoll. 
Since then, Wiechowski and Magnus-Levy have studied the 
same problem. Wiechowski obtained HN/N ratios of 45.4, 55, 
50 and in one case, even as much as 64 per cent. Magnus-Levy 
found in his rabbits a maximum ratio of 25 and 28 per cent., in 
his sheep 27.8 per cent. 
To investigate the cause of these discrepancies, Professor 
Lusk kindly suggested that I continue the study of this problem. 
Experiment I. 
A goat weighing 42.3 kg. was employed. In Table I., the 
results of this experiment are summarized. It shows that the 
animal was able to eliminate in its urine a good deal more glycocoll 
than is found preformed in the proteins of its tissues. The hip- 
puric acid formation, i. e., the glycocoll elimination does not de- 
pend upon the amount of protein catabolized, but within certain 
