191 2] William J. Gies 4.63 



question I have raised, and that suchstudiesaredesirable (page455), 

 Fischer accepts the essential point in my friendly crlticism of his 

 theory. 



The paper following this one^ presents additional experimental 

 data on the possible influenae of enzymes as factors in the produc- 

 tion of edema. 



Lack of Space in this issue of the Bulletin prevents füll dis- 

 cussion of Fischer's answers'' to my " questions,"^*' but the follow- 

 ing brief Statements relate to a few of the subjects which I feel 

 should be considered here. 



When I remarked, in my original criticism of Fischer's Statement 

 of his theory of edema,^^ that "one is surprised to find that lactic 

 acid does not figure in the summaries of Fischer's experimental 

 data" (page 445), I was referring to the summaries in the book on 

 edema tJien under review. I regarded the book on edema as 

 Fischer's best and most complete Statement of his theory. I knew 

 of Fischer's earlier results with lactic acid but I thought his failure 

 to use lactic acid data in his book was singular, in view of the im- 

 portance he has been ascribing to lactic acid as the leading direct 

 factor in the production of edema. 



Fischer says (page 449) : "In his intense contemplation of the 

 individual cell, Gies often overlooks the complex organism as a 

 whole." This remark appears to ignore my emphasis on the ijtflu- 

 ence of the general circidation and the kidneys in maintaining " the 

 normal protective equilibrium between bases and acids " in the indi- 

 vidual cells and tissues (page 454). 



Fischer's remarks on the results and conclusions published by 

 Goodridge and Gies (page 452) miss the point we believed our State- 

 ments emphasized.^^ I said, in my review of Fischer's book, after 

 restating the findings by Goodridge and Gies (page 454) : "All these 

 results (with " combined acid") suggest that acid would not cause 

 the gel proteins in the cells to imbibe water abnormally in the pres- 



' Tracy and Gies : Biochemical Bulletin, 1912, i, p. 467. 

 ' Fischer : loc. cit. 

 ^" Gies : loc. cit. 

 " Gies : loc. cit. 



" Fischer's Quotation is taken f rom a brief preliminary report, which was 

 not as detailed as we would have preferred to make it. 



