I9I2] Martin H. Fischer 453 



the acid) the addition of the acid would therefore tend to prevent 

 the fibrin from absorbing water. Only if acid got into it and free 

 water were available could we expect the fibrin thread to swell." 



The same may be said of eyes placed in colloidal Solutions in 

 which all the water is held as hydration water by the colloids in the 

 Solution, where, in other words, no water is " free " from the start 

 or where, under the conditions prevailing in the experiment, none 

 is set " free." 



All these results suggest that acid would not cause the gel proteins 

 in the cells to imbibe water abnormally in the presence of the associated 

 sol proteins. (Page 309.) 



We still maintain that it would. As is evident from what we 

 have said, equilibrium always tends to be established between the 

 water in the (gel) proteins of the cell and the (sol) proteins of 

 the circulating and interstitial lymph or blood. When we increase 

 the hydration capacity of the cell colloids, water tends to move over 

 into them from the blood. If the cell can rid itself of the acid in 

 any way, it becomes unable to hold the excess of water and gives it 

 back to the colloids of the blood and lymph. See my remarks on 

 urinary secretion in my volume on edema and my paper on absorp- 

 tion and secretion. 



The results also Warrant the provisional inference that the circulat- 

 ing sol proteins would attract (and by osmosis obtain) acid of intra- 

 cellular origin from any combinations there existing with either intra- 

 cellular gel proteins or the intracellular sol proteins, or both. 

 (Page 309.) 



We would write a question mark after the word "osmosis." 

 With the rest we agree. But there is a limit to the amount of this 

 neutralization. The fact that this mechanism has for a number of 

 reasons been worked to the breaking point is what characterizes the 

 condition that we call edema in pathology. 



That the circulating sol proteins lose to the associated circulating 

 basic Compounds any acid combined with or adsorbed to the proteins 

 is a justifiable belief. That the salins resulting from such neutralization 

 reduce hydrophilia in the vicinity of their origin and transit before 

 their excretion, is indicated by many observations. "The acid end 



