- A white crystalline nitrogenous substance present in small
amount in the pancreas and spleen, and formed in large quantity from
the decomposition of proteid matter by various means, -- as by
pancreatic digestion, by putrefaction as of cheese, by the action of
boiling acids, etc. Chemically, it consists of oxyphenol and
amidopropionic acid, and by decomposition yields oxybenzoic acid, or
some other benzol derivative.
Definition
[ n.]