AUTHORS ABSTRACT OF THIS PAPER ISSUED 
BY THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC SERVICE, DECEMBER 6 
AN EXPLANATION FOR THE VARIATIONS IN THE 
INTENSITY OF OXIDATION IN THE LIFE-CYCLE 
W. E. BURGE AND E. L. BURGE 
Physiology Laboratory , University of Illinois 
ONE FIGURE 
As a result of the work of a great number of observers, particu- 
larly of Hasselbalch (/), Magnus-Levy and Falk {2), and of 
Warburg {3), it is now known that oxidation or metabolism is 
very low in the unfertilized ovum, while it increases greatly 
following the process of fertilization; that the metabolism of 
the newly born infant also is very low, but increases rapidly, 
becoming very high during childhood and then gradually decreas- 
ing from maturity to old age. The present investigation is an 
attempt to find an explanation for the variation in the intensity 
of oxidation under the conditions named. 
Since we (4) had found that whatever increased oxidation in 
the body, the ingestion of food, for example, produced an increase 
in catalase, an enzyme possessing the property of liberating 
oxygen from hydrogen peroxide, by stimulating the alimentary 
glands, particularly the liver, to an increased output of this 
enzyme, and that whatever decreased oxidation, narcotics, for 
example, diminished catalase by decreasing its output from the 
liver and by direct destruction, we naturally turned to catalase 
in seeking an explanation for the variations in the intensity of 
oxidation at different periods in the life-cycle. 
The Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) was 
used in this investigation. Catalase determinations were made 
of the following materials gound up in a mortar: unfertilized and 
fertilized eggs, quarter, ^alf, three-quarter, and full-grown 
larvae, as well as pupae, adult, and very old beetles. Five- 
tenths gram of the ground material were added to neutral hydro- 
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