COMPLEX COACER VAXES AND PROTOPLASM 317 



In oriented coacervates one may also detect the formation 

 of ' micellar crystals ', fibrils and fibrillar structures. Bungen- 

 berg de Jong and his colleagues^ "^ observed the formation and 

 disappearance of these structures in coacervates of various 

 proteins, lecithin, nucleic acid, polymeric carbohydrates, etc. 



VACUOLE 



INCLUSION 



FAT DROPLETS 



VACUOLE 



Fig. 30. Model of a cell 



(after Bungenberg de Jong). 



1, II and III indicate individual coacervates. 



The so-called mtdtiple complex coacervates," made up of 

 several different components, are of great interest. The 

 coacervate which we have already discussed, made up of 

 gelatin, gum arable and sodium nucleate, may serve as an 

 example of this class. It may exist as a single complex 

 coacervate or may form two different coacervates which do 

 not mingle ; the drops of one coacervate may contain small 

 droplets of the other. 



The presence of double coacervates of this sort may readily 

 be demonstrated by staining. For example, the coacervate 

 of gelatin and nucleic acid which lies within the coacervate 

 of gelatin and gum arable is selectively stained by methylene 

 green. Bungenberg de Jong, along with many cytologists and 

 physiologists, considers that the living cell is, essentially, a 

 very complicated multiple coacervate^* (Fig. 30). 



From this point of view the nucleus may be regarded as 

 a coacervate lying within another coacervate, the cytoplasm ; 



