ACTION OF OESTROGENS ON MONOLAYERS 37 



There are a few substances, such as chloroform, which 

 probably act mainly by dissolving in lipoids. There ap- 

 pear to be no instances of lysis which do not appear to be 

 readily explicable in terms of the type of behaviour 

 which is found at interfaces. 



TABLE II 



POSSIBLE MODES OF ACTION OF LYTIC SUBSTANCES 



The Action of Oestrogens on Monolayers 



It is well known that many dihydroxy stilbenes have 

 oestrogenic activity. Schulman and Rideal have stud- 

 ied the action of these substances on protein mono- 

 layers, and have claimed that there is a maximum of 

 oestrogenic activity coinciding with maximum activity 

 on the protein monolayer (Fig. 7). This is an instance of 



