and peptones formed during proteolysis, as in no way inconsistent with the general tenor of events going on in the body. [220] On the Transformation of Maltose to Dextrose, Journal of Physiol., vol. xv, p. 421. While we are inclined to believe that the chemical changes attending the absorption of proteoses and peptones occur mainly in the epithelial cells of the intestinal mucosa, and that there is a direct transference of the alteration-products to the blood, there are still other views that cannot be wholly ignored. Thus, the view originally advanced by Hofmeister,[221] in which special stress is laid upon the functional activity of the leucocytes of the adenoid tissue surrounding the intestine, demands some consideration. The theory supposes that these cells not only have the power of taking up peptones, but also of assimilating and transforming them into the cell-protoplasm. This view being correct, it is plain that the so-absorbed proteid must pass into the circulating blood through the thoracic duct, and Hofmeister further considers it probable that the lymph-cells of the mesenteric glands can transform any absorbed peptone that may escape the leucocytes of the adenoid tissue. [221] Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., Band 4. In apparent harmony with this view is the fact that the leucocytes in the adenoid tissue of the intestine are greatly increased in number during digestion.[222] Furthermore, it is a well authenticated fact that the proteoses or peptones found in pus are contained in the pus-cells themselves, and not in the fluid in which the corpuscles float.[223] In support of the first statement, Pohl,[224] in his recent study of the absorption and assimilation of food-stuffs, has emphasized the marked increase in the number of white blood-corpuscles in the circulating blood after the ingestion of proteid foods, especially such as meat, Witte’s peptone, and gelatin-peptone. It is to be noted further that the increase is most marked at about the third hour after the taking of food, viz., at a time when digestive proteolysis would naturally be at its height. Moreover, the maximal increase, according to Pohl’s data, is astounding, amounting as it does in many cases to a hundred per cent. Thus, in one instance, in the case of a dog, the number of white blood-corpuscles per cubic millimetre of blood was 8,689; yet two hours after the feeding of 100 grammes of meat the number increased to 17,296 per cubic millimetre, followed six hours after by a return to the original figure. [222] Arch. f. Exp. Pathol. u. Pharm., Band 20 and Band 22. [223] Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., Band 4, p. 268. [224] Arch. f. Exp. Pathol. u. Pharm., Band 25, p. 31.