24 



LOGARITHMIC ORDER OF DEATH 



death. The different order is merely due to the fact that 

 higher organisms are multicellular. 



These tables and figures disclose another point which, 

 if not very obvious, is quite important. The assumption 

 made at the beginning of the calculations was that the 

 cells die in logarithmic order. This implies that they 

 are of uniform resistance. On the other hand, there can 

 hardly be any doubt that, in any large population, all 



8 MIN. 



Fig. 4. Mortality curves (deaths per minute) of multicellular organ- 

 isms the death of which is caused by the inactivation of n cells. 



100% 



14 MINUTES 



Fig. 5. Semi-logarithmic plot of the survivor curves of multicellular 

 organisms the death of which is brought about by the destruction of n 

 cells. Abscissa: time of exposure; ordinate: per cent of survivors on 

 a logarithmic scale. 



