385 
should have had to serve as an intermediary, it would be impossible 
to conceive that the addition of a small quantity of potassium, entirely 
within physiological limits, should have doomed the polonium-heart 
to a standstill. On the other hand, if the supposition had come true, 
the liberated and the newly added potassium-atoms would have aided 
each other and would have maintained the function, instead of 
disturbing it as was the case now in consequence of the joint action 
of polonium-radiation and the internal circulating potassium. 
