RELEASE OF CYTOST 67 



other means are employed to induce shock. Thus, al- 

 though the concentration of anesthetic in the tissues 

 may be insufficient to cause an extensive necrosis, the 

 added factor of diminished excretory power perhaps 

 permits a greater accumulation of cytost in the tissues 

 than might be the case in unanesthetized animals in- 

 jured by other means. 



The foregoing may be summarized as follows: in- 

 juries regardless of their nature stimulate the autol- 

 ysis of cells. Such autolysis results from the activity 

 of endocellular enzymes. Now it should be obvious 

 that cellular autolysis may be complete or partial, 

 for it is conceivable that if the injury be slight, the 

 damage may be easily repaired and consequently the 

 autolytic process will not proceed far enough to seri- 

 ously disorganize the cell. 



This fact is attested to by the observations of Cham- 

 bers and other micro-dissectionists who have fre- 

 quently injured cells of various sorts by their manipu- 

 lations. If the injury be slight and non-extensive, the 

 cells show no apparent ill effects and continue to live 

 normally. On the other hand, as has been stated previ- 

 ously, if the injury is marked, as for example in 

 Chambers' experiments with the starfish egg, then 

 cytolysis, death and presumably autolysis ensue. 



For some years it has been recognized that whereas 

 the normal living cell exhibits a selective perme- 

 ability, the latter ceases upon death (Jacobs, 1924). 

 So far as is known today, all normal cells are imper- 

 meable to colloids. Hence they are probably im- 

 permeable to enzymes since all enzymes which have 

 been carefully studied appear to be colloidal (Wald- 

 schmidt-Leitz, 1926; Gortner, 1929). It follows 



