RALPH S. LILLIE. 



sperm mixture arc- at first unaffected, luit in the course of half 

 an hour they become so modified that fertili/ation with normal 

 Spharechinus sperm is impossible. The egg is thus deprived of 

 the power of response to its own spermatozoa. 1 Whether this 

 condition of irresponsiveness (which is comparable to paral>>i>) 

 may be removed by artificial treatment such as the above has 

 apparently not been determined; but from the analogies with 

 the conditions just described there is every reason to believe that 

 this would readily be found possible. 2 



In conclusion I wish briefly to indicate the bearing of the above 

 observations on the general theory of pathological alterations in 

 cells. The conclusion that many pathological conditions have 

 their primary origin in abnormalities of the limiting membranes 

 of cells is an obvious corollary of any view that regards such 

 membranes which are essentially insulating surface-films of 

 varying ionic permeability and electrical polarization as largely 

 controlling the rate and character of the cell-processes. If stimu- 

 lation depends primarily on altered polarization of the plasma 

 membrane due to increased ionic permeability, it is clear that a 

 normal response, in the case of any cell, implies a definite condi- 

 tion of the membrane. If this condition is permanently altered 

 the cell processes inevitably undergo derangement, and patho- 

 logical changes follow. Such a deranged condition, if not too 

 far advanced, may be rectified by restoring the membrane to its 

 normal condition. How this may be accomplished is illustrated 

 by the case of the abnormal starfish eggs described above. It 

 is clear from the cytolytic effects produced by many toxine- 

 that they cause abnormal increase in the permeability of the 

 membranes; and in all probability their destructive action is in 

 many cases directly due to this surface action. The alteration 

 caused by a toxic agent may consist primarily either in increasing 

 or in decreasing the permeability normal to the membrane, or 

 in altering in either direction the readiness with which the latter 

 undergoes change. Evidently the plasma membrane, as an 



1 A similar and reversible effect may be produced by treating tin- -i;.u with cei tain 

 salt solutions, as Mathews and Newman sh<>\\< years ago for Fan tin I us 

 eggs; cf. BIOLOGICAL BULLETIN, 1905, Vol. 9, p. 378. 



2 Evidence that this change is in fact reversible i*< *rrn in the effects of washing 

 the eggs thoroughly in sea-wut< i alter the treatment with the -perm mixture. A 

 partial return of respond \ -c-ness to the -pei matn/oi'in \\a- observed ' p- -36). 



