INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE 59 



products such as egg-white, or living cells, such as 

 blood-corpuscles, bacilli, or even higher organisms 

 such as eggs or plants are involved, follows the 

 same law as is found for the influence of tem- 

 perature on ordinary chemical processes. Atten- 

 tion may be drawn to the very high values of /jl in 



Quantity of yeast in gms.- 

 Fig. 13. 



some cases of spontaneous destruction, coagulation 

 or destruction of living cells (blood -corpuscles, 

 bacteria). 



The peculiarity that in many cases optimum 

 temperatures are observed in life-processes or enzy- 

 matic actions is easily explained by the destructive 

 influence of high temperatures on living cells or 

 enzymes. No essential difference exists between 



