ISO OTTO GLASER. 



This result however does not yet solve the problem. It might 

 be argued that the substance which masks the chlorine is secreted 

 only by eggs newly shed from the ovary. If true, the failure to 

 remove chlorine in the above experiment from the second volume 

 of sea-water could be attributed to the absence of the chlorine- 

 masking secretion. 



A direct test of this idea is easily made, for if the deficit were, 

 in reality, only apparent, it should be possible by complete evap- 

 oration to recover from equal volumes of sea-water and of secre- 

 tion, equal quantities of sea-salts. This, as the following com- 

 parison shows, is not the case. 



TABLE IV. 



Chlorine per c.c. 



as AgNOs M/20. Total Salt per c.c. 



Sea Water 10.6 c.c. .0387 gram 



Secretion 10.4 c.c. .0370 gram 



We must conclude then that the chlorine is not masked by the 

 organic materials in the secretion, but is removed from solution 

 by the eggs. Moreover, if we arbitrarily assume that the eggs 

 remove only KC1, which in relation to its chlorine content is the 

 heaviest of the salts present, there would still remain a discrep- 

 ancy between the total salt-deficit of 1.7 milligrams per c.c. of 

 secretion and the loss attributable to KC1 alone. The total deficit 

 therefore does not appear to result from a selective action on the 

 part of the eggs. On the contrary, we must believe that all the 

 salts are affected in proportion to their concentration in sea-water 

 and their capacity for being removed by the particular egg- 

 mechanism involved in the process. 



V. THE MECHANISM BY WHICH SALTS ARE REMOVED FROM 



THE SEA- WATER. 



Although an inspection of Table II. suggests that the chlorine 

 deficit does not increase after the first fifteen minutes of exposure, 

 the actual state of affairs can be rendered much clearer by reduc- 

 ing the values given to a common basis. We will assume an 

 ample supply of chlorine; also, for the sake of comparison, that 

 in one hour, I c.c. of eggs can remove from I c.c. of sea-water 

 as much chlorine as from twenty; and further, that in i hour i 



