LIFE WITHOUT OXYGEN 



127 



In conclusion Amerling observes : 



u Whilst these experiments have been conducted on those 

 stages in which the membrane has been shed, it is obvious that 

 from the beginning of division to the stage of metamorphosis, 

 that is during the entire larval life of the frog, sensitiveness 

 toward the withdrawal of oxygen progressively increases " (I.e.). 



These results find a clear explanation and the theory here 

 under review a solid support, in the researches of A. Herlitzka 

 on the ontogenesis of the enzymes in the germinating organism 

 and especially the date of the appearance of the oxidases. It is 

 well known since the classic work of Bourquelot, G. Bertrand 

 and others that the oxidations of the organism are effected 

 exclusively by means of oxidising catalysts, the so-called oxidases. 

 In the eggs of the viviparous animals and presumably in the 

 unfertilised germ cells of the vivipares, these oxidases are 

 apparently absent or in an inactive state. Says Herlitzka -, 1 



" It is only at a late stage in the course of development 

 that the oxidases and peroxidases appear. The poverty of 

 oxidative processes which is indicated by this lack of oxidising 

 ferments finds confirmation, in the case of frogs, in the fact that 

 in the embryos haemoglobin is for a long time lacking in the 

 circulating blood. The same is true of the permanent larvas of 

 the Congeracei (teleosts). For the rest, such a limited develop- 

 ment of the oxidative processes was to be foreseen in organisms 

 which undergo such rapid growth." 



The same general conditions appear to obtain among plants. 

 Thus, for example, Godlewski 2 found that lupine seeds 



1 " Sur l'Ontogenese des ferments," Archives ital. de biol. 119, 48, 1907 (from 

 Biologica, vol. i. No. 7, 1907), with full lit. 



1 Bull. Acad. Soc. Cracovie, 1904 : cited after Euler, I.e. 159. 



