and Laboratory Methods. 2063 



GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



RAYMOND PEARL, University of Michigan. 



Books and Papers for Review should be Sent to Raymond Pearl, Zoological Laboratory, 

 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. 



,.,-,. , , , , This paper is a report of a series of ex- 



Loeo, J. 1st die erregende und hemmende '^ '^ '^ 



Wirkungderloneneine Function ihrer elek- periments on the effects of various 



trischen Ladung ? Arch. f. d. ges. Physiol, solutions in influencing three different 

 91 : 240-264, 1902. ° 



kinds of vital phenomena (automatic, 



rhythmical contractions of skeletal muscles, rhythmical contraction of the bell of 



Gonionema, and the sensitiveness of the skin). The purpose of the author is to 



determine whether his theory that the physiological effects of ions are due to 



their electrical charges, is supported by facts. It is found not to be. 



In earlier experiments Loeb had found that certain solutions (e. g., NaCl) 

 stimulate skeletal muscles immersed in them to a series of rhythmical, fibrillar 

 contractions, and that certain other solutions (e.g., CaClg) inhibit these contrac- 

 tions. It appeared from the results of these experiments with the small number 

 of solutions first tried, that the effect of a salt in stimulating a muscle to fibrillar 

 contractions increased with an increase in the valency of the anion, while the 

 inhibitory effect increased with an increase in the valency of the kation. The 

 more complete series of experiments reported in the present paper shows clearly 

 that neither is the excitatory effect of a solution on muscle an exclusive function 

 of the anion, nor is the inhibitory effect an exclusive function of the kation. 

 Furthermore, in neither case is an increase in physiological effect invari- 

 ably associated with an increase in valency. For example, the* minimal 

 effective concentration of Nal which will produce fibrillar contractions is w/32. 

 The minimal concentration of Na2S0j^ producing the same result is precisely 

 the same, mj^l. Similar results were obtained in experiments on the effect of 

 solutions in stimulating and inhibiting the rhythmical contractions of the bell of 

 Gonionema after removal of the nerve ring, and also in experiments on stimulat- 

 ing with solutions the dermal sense organs in the foot of the frog. No relation 

 between physiological effect and valency of ions was found. 



Thus a theory which was considered by some as likely to revolutionize 

 physiology, is completely refuted and retracted within less than nine months of 

 its proposal, as a result of a rather brief series of experiments performed by the 

 author of the theory. R. p. 



Lillie, R. S. On the Oxidative Properties of In this Study of the function of the 

 the Cell-Nucleus. Amer. Jour. Physiol. 7: nucleus in oxidation, the author made 

 412-421, 1902. 



use of various chemical indicators to 



determine the relative amount of oxidation which the various tissues of the body 

 were capable of producing. The color reactions which were found to be the most 

 sensitive and reliable were : 1. The formation of indophenol, a deeply colored 

 violet dye, by the oxidation of an alkaline aqueous solution containing small 



