78 



REACTION OF CELLS 



very high degree of accuracy by experiments on the 

 killing of bacteria by means of different disinfectants. 

 Without doubt the bacteria behave in this case 

 just as the erythrocytes at haemolysis. If now the 

 different time necessary for killing the different 

 bacteria was due to their natural resistance, we might 

 expect that the velocity of reaction would be zero 



Time — ► 

 Fig. 22A. 



to begin with, to increase subsequently and run 

 through a maximum when about 50 per cent were 

 killed, and after that to fall again to zero when 

 nearly all bacteria were dead. The characteristic 

 line would be expressed by a curved line with an 

 inflexion-point as in Fig. 22A. Instead of this we 

 find the straight line in this figure representing the 

 phenomenon, The different lifetime of the different 



