446 
Peptone  in  the  Animal  Body. 
J  Am.  Jour  Pharm. 
1      Sept.,  1883. 
as  a  whole.  The  proportion  of  peptone  found  in  the  walls  of  the 
small  intestine  was  14  times  greater  than  that  in  the  walls  of  the 
stomach.  On  the  other  hancl^  the  proportion  of  peptone  in  the  gastric 
cavity  was  15  times  that  present  in  the  gastric  mucous  membrane. 
Either  the  stomach  plays  a  much  less  part  in  the  absorption  of  peptone 
than  the  intestine,  or  the  absorbed  peptone  disappears  more  quickly 
from  its  mucous  membrane. 
Next  to  the  intestinal  tract,  the  blood  exhibits  a  pretty  regular  pro- 
portion. Schraidt-Miilheim  had  already  shown  that  in  the  case  of 
dogs  24  hours  after  being  fed,  the  blood  contains  no  peptone. 
Although  in  the  majority  of  cases  the  blood  is  found  containing 
peptone,  yet  on  three  occasions  out  of  eleven,  negative  results  were 
yielded  from  four  to  six  hours  after  food.  It  would  appear  that  the 
circulation  of  unchanged  peptone  is  not  indispensably  necessary  to 
nutrition.  The  peptone  present  in  the  blood  is  never  of  significant 
amount,  ranging  from  0*029  to  0*055  per  cent,  with  a  well-marked 
maximum  seven  hours  after  food.  Experiments  tend  to  establish  the 
fact  that  the  peptone  in  the  blood  is  not  dissolved  in  the  serum,  but  is 
associated  with  the  red  corpuscles. 
When  peptone  was  absent  from  the  blood  it  was  never  present  in 
the  spleen.  Contrary  to  the  results  of  Plzos  and  Gyergyai,  peptone 
could  not  be  detected  in  the  liver  or  mesenteric  glands. 
From  the  above  observations  it  is  inferred  that  the  transformation 
of  peptone  takes  place  either  in  the  mucous  membrane  itself  or  imme- 
diately after  reception  by  the  blood. 
During  the  act  of  digestion,  the  stomach  of  a  dog  was  opened  along 
the  smaller  curvature,  spread  out  and  then  divided  by  a  suture  carried 
from  the  pylorus  to  the  cardiac  end  into  two  halves  as  nearly  as  possi- 
ble symmetrical.  It  might  be  anticipated  that  when  the  viscus  was 
carefully  freed  from  adhering  contents,  both  porlions  would  yield 
equal  proportions  of  peptone.  This,  however,  is  true  only  when  both 
are  simultaneously  immersed  in  boiling  water.  Should  one  be  left 
undisturbed  for  a  time,  its  peptone  will  be  found  to  diminish  in  a 
remarkable  manner,  and  even  wholly  disappear. 
This  disappearance  of  peptone  is  a  vital  act,  taking  place  according 
to  the  stage  of  digestion  with  unequal  rapidity,  and  arrested  by  heat- 
ing for  a  few  minutes  to  60°C.  If  the  stomach,  previously  extracted 
and  wiped  dry,  be  placed  in  the  moist  chamber  for  one  or  two  hours 
at  40°,  the  mucous  membrane  is  further  observed  to  secrete  a  fresh 
