44^ Watcr Absorption hy Protoplasm [Mar. 



influence of abnormal proportions of acid. Does the production of 

 lactic acid in an edematous tissue keep pace with the inflow and accu- 

 mulation of water? Does the water which accumulates in a case of 

 edema leave behind it all its former associates in lymph, such as phos- 

 phate and bicarbonate, when it enters the edematous field? Does 

 edema result from the action of sodium di-hydrogen (acid) phosphate, 

 or of any other acid salt produced by combinations of intracellular 

 alkalin Compounds with any lactic acid that may become available? 

 Does such acid induce edema, or does it combine with or affect protein 

 in any way, in the presence of an excess of alkalin materialf 

 (Page 306.) 



The tissue '' Spaces " are not empty but filled with water-satu- 

 rated colloidal material (lymph). Water in the body and sub- 

 stances dissolved in the water travel independently of each other 

 and, at times, in opposite directions. Acid salts act like acids. In 

 the presence of an excess of an alkaline material the acid or the acid 

 salts are converted into neutral salts and then the body colloids 

 under consideration are no longer swelling in the presence of an 

 acid. If the alkaline material is really present " in excess," then 

 alkali-protein will be formed and this has a greater hydration 

 capacity than neutral protein. For a detailed discussion of absorp- 

 tion and secretion, including the question of the formation of 

 lymph, see my paper on this subject.® 



Fischer demonstrated the striking power of small proportions of 

 electrolytes as agents which counteract the swelling influence of acids, 

 even when the latter are present in large excesses. He does not explain 

 these effects although he emphasizes their importance and their Utility. 

 He shows that tartrate and phosphate anions are particularly active in 

 this respect, but he does not appear to consider the probable tendency 

 of phosphate in the tissues to interfere with the swelling influence of 

 such quantities of lactic acid as may be presumed to occur there under 

 pathological conditions. He fails to indicate how much or how little 

 the lactate arising from neutralizations in such cases antagonizes the 

 bloating influences of the lactic acid which, let us assume, keeps on 

 developing in an edematous tissue. (Page 306.) 



I have never entered into a detailed discussion of the theoretical 

 physical chemistry of the colloidal State, for Wolfgang Ostwald, 

 'Martin H. Fischer: Kolloidchemische Beihefte, 2, 304 (1911). 



