THE ACTION OF ETHER OX PROTOPLASM. 



465 



As to the interpretation of the experiments, the difference in 

 rate of osmotic flow may be due either to a change in the prop- 

 erties of the fluid or to a change in the plasma membranes. 

 Bigelow (14) and Bartell (15) found that the speed of osmotic 



S 



i 



HOURS 



FIG. i shows the increase in weight of muscles in distilled water and in distilled 

 water to which 2 per cent, by volume of ether has been added. In each pair of 

 curves the small circles represent the increase in weight of a frog gastrocnemius 

 muscle in distilled water, the small triangles represent the increase in weight of 

 the corresponding muscle from the other leg immersed in 2 per cent, ether. The 

 abscissae indicate time in hours, the ordinates total weight of muscle. 



flow of water through various osmotic membranes followed the 

 laws of Poseuille for flow through capillary tubes. It is obvious 

 that in general any increase in the viscosity of a fluid would 

 tend to slow its rate of osmotic flow. The magnitude of the 

 effect might be sufficient to account for my results, although 

 perhaps not for those of Winterstein. There are also other 

 factors to be considered. The anesthetics may extract materials 

 from the muscle which tend to exert osmotic pressure in the 

 opposite direction. 



I have thus far omitted reference to Winterstein 's experiments 

 on the osmotic flow through muscle membranes obtained from 



