138 FRANK R. LILLIE. 



TABLE VI. 



PROTECTIVE ACTION OF GELATIN (Exp. 34). Identical inseminations in the fluids 

 (a) to (j) and their controls. (One drop of i : 25 : 7.5 c.c.) 



One Part of CuCh Per Cent. Same Solutions Witn- Per Cent, 



to 500,000 Parts of Segmented. out Copper (Control). Segmented. 



(a) Sea-water (control) o (a) Sea-water (control) 100% 



(b) o.oooi % gelatin in s.w o (b) o.oooi % gelatin in s.w 90% 



(c) o.ooi % gelatin in s.w o (c) o.ooi % gelatin in s.w 90% 



(<?) 0.002% gelatin in s.w o (d) 0.002% gelatin in s.w 100% 



(e) 0.004% gelatin in s.w <i % (e) 0.004% gelatin in s.w 100% 



(/) 0.008% gelatin in s.w 20% (/) 0.008% gelatin in s.w 100% 



(g) 0.016% gelatin in s.w 50% (g) 0.016% gelatin in s.w 100% 



(h) 0.032% gelatin in s.w QO%+ (h) 0.032% gelatin in s.w 100% 



(z) 0.064% gelatin in s.w 100% (i) 0.064% gelatin in s.w 100% 



(j) o.i % gelatin in s.w 100% (j) o.i % gelatin in s.w 100% 



Thus both gum arable and gelatin protect against the in- 

 hibiting effect of copper. Presumably any non-injurious sub- 

 stance that would form a non-dissociable compound with copper, 

 thus removing it from the sphere of action of fertilization, would 

 similarly protect. The question then arises whether the pro- 

 tective action of egg- water is a special instance of the general 

 colloid (gum arabic) effect, or of the protein (gelatin) effect. I 

 think we may say definitely that the action of egg-water is not 

 a general protein effect, for even the strongest egg-water does 

 not give any certain protein reaction. It is moreover practically 

 certain that diluted egg- water which protects does not have a col- 

 loid content equivalent to the protective minimum of the gum 

 arabic solution. There is something in the egg-water that does 

 not give protein reaction, but with probably an equal or greater 

 avidity for copper. There is also something in the cortex of 

 the egg itself with a similar affinity for copper, viz. : the activable 

 substance. It is reasonable to suppose that these two things 

 are identical. 



It is an interesting fact that egg- water also possesses a de- 

 viating effect on the inhibiting action of species-blood in fertili- 

 zation which is not a general colloid effect nor yet a general 

 protein effect (Lillie, 1914). As egg-water protects against two 

 such different forms of inhibitor, it is reasonable to suppose it is 

 able to do so by possessing the same substance as that on which the 



