Immunity of Lower Organtsjns to Ethyl Alcohol 573 



species of organisms was placed on a slide; near this was put two 

 or three times as much of an artificial infusion in which animals 

 were living. Upon connecting the two, both the animals in the 

 natural water and those of the infusion died with marked violence. 

 Animals from these divergent media, however, were brought by 

 gradual change to live with impunity under the once mutually 

 destructive conditions. 



I have never found organisms under sufficiently divergent 

 natural conditions to obtain Hafkine's results with minimal 

 amounts of media, but with a small quantity of a normal culture 

 plus a larger volume of a foreign medium, I have observed similai 

 phenomena. 



My study of adaptation in lower organisms falls naturally into 

 two divisions. Part P deals with the adjustment of Paramecia 

 to distilled water. Part II, the present study, has to do with the 

 adjustment and immunity of Stentor and Spirostomum to ethyl 

 alcohol. 



At this point I should like to express to Prof. H. S. Jennings, 

 under whose direction the following researches were made, my 

 highest appreciation for the sincere sympathy he has shown at all 

 periods of my work upon this subject. 



Immunity of Stentor and Spirostomum to Ethyl Alcohol 



i introduction 



The effect of alcohol upon living matter has long been a subject 

 for observation and experimentation. Its marked influence upon 

 man makes it a problem of the greatest practical concern to the 

 race. Aside from this, the nature of its action, especially in the 

 case of its use in moderation, is of the highest scientific interest. 



Within the past decade notable advancement has been made in 

 this latter direction. Probably the work of no single investigator 

 has been farther reaching in its results than has that of Atwater." 

 From his extensive and thorough-going investigations we have 



''Published 1908, Amer. Jour. Physiol., xxiii, pp. 49-63. 



' Atwater, Physiological Aspects of the Liquor Problem, vol. ii, 1903. 



