The Effect of Peptone on the Peripheral Circulation

1. Injection of a solution of peptone directly into the artery of the leg of a dog is followed by an abrupt increase in leg volume. This is of short duration and is quickly followed, usually in less than (1/2) minute, by a decrease in the volume of the limb below that previous to the injection. 2. The phases of the leg volume curve bear a fairly definite relation to the changes in arterial pressure. 3. These results, therefore, indicate that the long continued low arterial pressure in peptone shock, and probably in anaphylactic shock, may be hastened but is not maintained by peripheral dilatation, and suggest that there is an impounding of the blood in some other part of the body.