Part 174

Peppermint camphor. (Chem.) Same as Menthol. -- Peppermint tree (Bot.), a name given to several Australian species of gum tree (Eucalyptus amygdalina, E. piperita, E. odorata, etc.) which have hard and durable wood, and yield an essential oil.

Pep"per*wort` (?), n. (Bot.) See Peppergrass.

Pep"per*y (?), a. 1. Of or pertaining to pepper; having the qualities of pepper; hot; pungent.

2. Fig.: Hot-tempered; passionate; choleric.

Pep"sin (?), n. [Gr. &?; a cooking, digesting, digestion, fr. &?;, &?;, to cook, digest: cf. F. pepsine. Cf. Dyspepsia.] (Physiol. Chem.) An unorganized proteolytic ferment or enzyme contained in the secretory glands of the stomach. In the gastric juice it is united with dilute hydrochloric acid (0.2 per cent, approximately) and the two together constitute the active portion of the digestive fluid. It is the active agent in the gastric juice of all animals.

As prepared from the glandular layer of pigs' or calves' stomachs it constitutes an important article of pharmacy.

Pep`sin*hy`dro*chlo"ric (?), a. (Physiol. Chem.) Same as Peptohydrochloric.

Pep*sin"o*gen (?), n. [Pepsin + -gen.] (Physiol. Chem.) The antecedent of the ferment pepsin. A substance contained in the form of granules in the peptic cells of the gastric glands. It is readily convertible into pepsin. Also called propepsin.

Pep"tic (?), a. [L. pepticus, Gr. &?;. See Pepsin.] 1. Relating to digestion; promoting digestion; digestive; as, peptic sauces.

2. Able to digest. [R.]

Tolerably nutritive for a mind as yet so peptic.

Carlyle.

3. (Physiol. Chem.) Pertaining to pepsin; resembling pepsin in its power of digesting or dissolving albuminous matter; containing or yielding pepsin, or a body of like properties; as, the peptic glands.

Pep"tic, n. 1. An agent that promotes digestion.

2. pl. The digestive organs.

Is there some magic in the place, Or do my peptics differ?

Tennyson.

Pep"tics (?), n. The science of digestion.

Pep"to*gen (?), n. [Peptone + -gen.] (Physiol.) A substance convertible into peptone.

Pep`to*gen"ic (?), a. Same as Peptogenous.

Pep*tog"e*nous (?), a. (Physiol. Chem.) Capable of yielding, or being converted into, peptone.

Pep`to*hy`dro*chlo"ric (?), a. [See Peptone, and Hydrochloric.] (Physiol. Chem.) Designating a hypothetical acid (called peptohydrochloric acid, pepsinhydrochloric acid, and chloropeptic acid) which is supposed to be formed when pepsin and dilute (0.1-0.4 per cent) hydrochloric acid are mixed together.

Pep"tone (?), n. [Gr. &?; cooked.] (Physiol. Chem.) (a) The soluble and diffusible substance or substances into which albuminous portions of the food are transformed by the action of the gastric and pancreatic juices. Peptones are also formed from albuminous matter by the action of boiling water and boiling dilute acids. (b) Collectively, in a broader sense, all the products resulting from the solution of albuminous matter in either gastric or pancreatic juice. In this case, however, intermediate products (albumose bodies), such as antialbumose, hemialbumose, etc., are mixed with the true peptones. Also termed albuminose.

Pure peptones are of three kinds, amphopeptone, antipeptone, and hemipeptone, and, unlike the albumose bodies, are not precipitated by saturating their solutions with ammonium sulphate.

Pep"to*nize (?), v. t. (Physiol.) To convert into peptone; to digest or dissolve by means of a proteolytic ferment; as, peptonized food.

Pep"to*noid (?), n. [Peptone + -oid.] (Physiol. Chem.) A substance related to peptone.

||Pep`to*nu"ri*a (?), n. [NL. See Peptone, and Urine.] (Med.) The ||presence of peptone, or a peptonelike body, in the urine.

Pep`to*tox"ine (?), n. [Peptone + toxic + -ine.] (Physiol. Chem.) A toxic alkaloid found occasionally associated with the peptones formed from fibrin by pepsinhydrochloric acid.