igii] William J. Gies 311 



very decidedly in the cells themselves?"^* Is there no excess of 

 interstitial water in edema? Are the fibrillce of an edematous con- 

 nective tissue bloated? According to Fischer a frog leg immersed 

 in water becomes edematous as a result of postmortem acid forma- 

 tion primarily (autolytic hydrolysis of carbohydrate?) and saline 

 dialysis secondarily (removal of inhibitive factors). But what 

 about the possible effects of general autolysis with its consequent 

 protoplasmic discoordinations and preliminary cumulative produc- 

 tions of additional hydrophilic molecules? 



Fischer does not touch on the well known effects of the various 

 lymphagogues. This is an interesting and important Omission. 

 Twelve years ago Asher and P^ observed prolonged postmortem 

 flow of thoracic lymph from a dog. Others have since obtained 

 similar results. What in Fischer's view is the bearing on edema of 

 such phenomena of lymph flow? Does Fischer's theory explain 

 " edema ex vacuo " ? Are hereditary edemas or neuropathic edemas, 

 natural and experimental, readily explained by this theory? 



These are among the questions which require answers before 

 Fischer's theory can be accepted in toto as a complete expression of 

 the whole truth in the matter. From the little I know and under- 

 stand of the clinical aspects of edema, I fancy clinicians will have 

 numerous questions of their own to add to such as are raised above. 



These, and other questions that occur to us, can probably be 

 answered promptly and directly by Fischer from his large expe- 

 rience in the practical studies he has planned and managed so well, 

 but if the answers are presented in his book, I have overlooked them. 



That Fischer's Statements are not always what he apparently in- 

 tends them to be is obvious as one reads page after page. It is pos- 

 sible that some doubts in my own mind are due to this fact. Thus 

 he says time after time that this, that, or the other colloid or col- 

 loidal mass "swells more in the ( !) Solution of any (?) acid than 

 it does in distilled water." In this case I assume it is his Intention 

 to say, in effect, merely that the colloidal mass, in each case, swells 

 more in each of the particular Solutions of the very few acids he has 

 used, than it does in distilled water. He surely doesn't intend to say 



* Fischer : Loc. cit., p. 207, 



** Asher and Gies : Zeitschrift für Biologie, 1900, xl, p. 207. 



