27 



not too hazardous. As we know the permeability of red blood-cor- 

 puscles agrees, in many respects, with that of the other body cells. 

 We also know that acids afTect the permeability of blood-co>'piiscles and 

 other body -cells. Then we are not so far removed from the conclusion 

 that, if in \'ivo this stable permeability of the red blood-corpuscles 

 has been atfected, the permeability of the otiier l)ody-cells might also 

 have been inoditied. 



C n c I u s 1 n s. 



On the (jvouml of these f acts we mitfit form the followim/ conception. 



As in vitro the pevmeabUity of cells can be changed by an addition 

 of acid, this can be done in vivo by other influences, in the case of 

 some febrile diseases. In the latter case chlorine enters the cells under 

 the same circumstances under which it leaves the cells in the normal 

 individual. The consequence of this may be that loith these patients 

 chlorine cannot pass from the tissues into the blood. 



The fact that the cJdorine-transfer is constant in normal people 

 and in patients with a normal chlorine-excretion, that the chlorine- 

 transfer is constant in an opposite direction, in people loith chlorine- 

 retention, suggests the possibility that a modified permeability of the 

 cells will have to be reckoned among the causes of chlorine-retention 

 in febrile diseases. 



Groningen, March 1913. 



Chemistry. — ''The systems phosphorus and cyane.'' By Prof. 

 A. Smits. (Communicated by Prof. J. D. van der Waals). 



Als was already stated before ^) it has been ascertained that tiie 

 vapour tension curve of liquid white phosphorus cannot be the 

 metastable prolongation of the vapour tension line of molten red 

 phosphorus. This fact is in perfect harmony with the circumstance 

 tiiat it can be calculated from the determinations of Aston and 

 Ramsay^) on the surface tension that the li(|uid white i)liosphorus 

 must become critical at ± 1:22^. 



In consequence of the existence of this critical point the particu- 

 larly interesting case presents itself that the 7^, jf-figure for white 



1) These Proc. 



2) Journ. Ghem, Soc. 65, 173 (1894). 



