FESSARD: ACTIVITY OF ELECTRIC PLATES 511 



Finally, the schema that we shall tentatively propose as the most 

 representative of our present knowledge and the most promising as 

 help for future research, is the one shown in figure 2, Schema IV. It is 

 supposed to represent a complex molecular structure of the same type 

 as that used by modern biophysicists in their hypotheses on the consti- 

 tution of the molecular membranes (Danielli and Davson^^. Such 

 double layer leaflets are built up with lipoid and protein molecules, and 

 are widespread at the cell surfaces. Similar arrangements have been 

 assumed to be present, for instance, in the rods of the retina, which has 

 well-known electrical properties. 



Figure 2 makes it clear how this last hypothetical schema may be 

 considered as a synthesis of the other three. In effect, it borrows an 

 idea from each of the preceding theories. It is like the first, inasmuch 

 as it admits the presence of two opposing polarized layers, of which 

 only one can be neutralized. It borrows from the second the idea that 

 a high resistivity layer exists (probably made of oriented lipoid chains 

 in the intermediate region), which collapses during the discharge; and 

 it is in agreement with the third, in admitting that the electromotive 

 force is strictly localized at the innervated face of the plate, where it 

 becomes apparent during the short period when one of the layers is 

 depolarized. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



1. Auger, D., & A. Fessaxd 



1938. C. R. Soc. Biol. 128: 1067. 



2. Auger, D., & A. Fessard 



1939. Ibid. 131:765. 



3. Auger, D., & A. Fessard 

 1939. Ann. de Physiol. 15: 261. 



4. Auger, D., & A. Fessard 



1939. Livro de Homenagem Prof. A. e M. Ozorio de Almeida. 25. Rio de Ja- 

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6. Auger, D., & A. Fessard 

 1941. C. R. Soc. Biol. 135: 76. 



6. Auger, D., & A. Fessard 

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1939. Biochem. J. 33 : 255. 



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 1906. Pflueger's Arch. 112: 439. 



11. Coates, C, & R. Cox 



1945. Zoologica30:89. 



