36 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
moved from the sodium chloride solution and suspended for 
20 hours in distilled water. At the end of this period of time 
it weighed 41.5 grams, having gained more than 10 grams 
during the 20 hours in distilled water. Bag No. 4, which, as 
shown by the following table, had gained 44 per cent of its 
original weight during the 18 hours that it was suspended in 
distilled water, was, at the end of this period of time, removed 
from the distilled water and placed for 20 hours in 2M sodium - 
chloride solution. At the end of 20 hours it weighed 37.4 
grams, having lost 1.7 grams during the 20 hours that it was 
suspended in the 2M sodium chloride solution. At the end 
of the experiment No. 1 had gained 45 per cent of its 
original weight, while No. 4 had gained only 36 per cent 
of its original weight. During the 20 hours in distilled 
water, No. 1 gained 41.8 per cent in weight, while during the 
same period of time No. 4, in 2M sodium chloride solution, 
lost 5.3 per cent in weight. 
The following table shows the results of such an experiment: 
Number on | Weight of | Weight of bag | Concentration of | Weight of bag after Part 
bag plus albumen solution used | 18 hours in solution Weight 
Per cent 
6.9 gr. 31.0 gr. 2M NaCl 31.3 i2 
7.0 “é 
1 
2 26.9 * M NaCl 29:7 14.0 
3 71“ 30.6 “ { * NaCl t 34.8 18.0 
4 he 29.3 * Distilled water 39.1 44.1 
The egg-albumen used in this experiment is certainly quite 
different from living protoplasm, and yet it is the substance 
that we ordinarily think of as being most like protoplasm. 
The white of the egg is a colloidal solution of albumens. As 
Lavison (7) has pointed out, protoplasm is principally a 
colloidal solution of albumens. The paper used to separate 
the egg-albumen from its surrounding medium in the above 
experiment differs in some respects from the cellulose wall 
that surrounds ordinary plant cells. Nevertheless, the two 
are much alike. The paper differs from the cell wall in 
physical structure, but the two are quite similar chemically. 
The paper, like the cell wall, is permeable to both water and 
electrolytes. 
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