■^7^ 



O. C. Glaser and C. M. Sparrow 



nematocysts of Physalia were not used in this series of experiments 

 for reasons which will become clear later — all the results pre- 

 sented in this section are based on isolated Metridium nemato- 

 cysts secured by the maceration method. 



TABLE II 



Solution 



Effect 



Sea water 



Distilled water 



Saturated sugar solution 



Idem followed by H2O dist. . . . 

 Saturated sodium chlorid .... 



strontium chlorid . . . 



zinc sulfate 



magnesium sulfate . . 

 " sodium carbonate . . , 



potassium carbonate 

 Kleinenberg's picro-sulfuric. . . 



Sublimate acetic 



Saturated mercury bichlorid . . 



Acetic acid 



Hydrochloric acid 



Ammonium hydroxid 



95 per cent alcohol 



Chloroform 



Ether 



Chloretone 



none 

 complete instantaneous discharge 



none 

 partial and slow discharge 



none 



none 



none 



none 



none 



none 

 complete instantaneous discharge 

 complete instantaneous discharge 



none 

 complete instantaneous discharge 

 complete instantaneous discharge 

 complete instantaneous discharge 



none 



none 

 doubtful 



none 



In every case, except that of sea-water, dilution occurred when 

 the reagents listed above were brought into the fluid of the sus- 

 pensions. The error due to this, however, is of no consequence 

 in the present connection. With one or two exceptions, to be 

 discussed later, the same solutions, effective in bringing about 

 the discharge of nematocysts within their mother cells, are capable 

 of causing the same effects when the nematocysts are isolated. 



An examination of the table shows that these results give strong 

 support to the osmotic theory. The positive effects of distilled 

 water, of dilute acids, such as Kleinenberg's picro-sulfuric, and 

 sublimate acetic, and the negative results from the use of the sat- 

 urated solutions of sugar, and of sodium, strontium, magnesium. 



