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Physiology. — "Quantitative researches on phagocytosis. A contri- 

 bution to the biology of phagocytes." By Prof. H. J. Hamburger 

 and Dr. E. Hekma. 



(Communicated in the meeting of June 29, 1907.) 

 I. Introduction and method of investigation. 



The investigations of which an abridged account is given in this 

 paper ') are a continuation of those begun several years ago by one 

 of us 2 ), with the object of ascertaining the influence exercised 

 by solutions of various concentration on the red corpuscles and 

 other cells. These researches had been for the greatest part 

 confined to the study of chemical and volumefrical alterations ex- 

 perienced by the cells through the modification of their media and 

 of their significance with regard to the functions of the body. But 

 until now, the influence of these agents on the life of the cell itself, 

 had not been the object of a systematic investigation, although the 

 plan had existed for some time and the expediency of the method 

 had been proved 3 ). The importance of such an investigation will be 

 readily admitted. In the first, place, because it enhances the value of 

 the chemical and volumetrical researches mentioned above, and 

 secondly, because the phenomena produced by the agency of solutions 

 undangerous to life, are in fact nothing else but the effects of reaction, 

 which finally will help us to penetrate farther into the chemical 

 structure of the living cell. The red corpuscles, which were mostly 

 used for the chemical and volumetrical researches, however, are no 

 suitable objects for the study of the influence of reagents upon life, 

 for they do not afford sure tests of vitality, nor is it possible to 

 measure the value of their life functions. 



We therefore looked elsewhere for our material and our choice 

 fell on the phagocytes, for the twofold reason that they are simple, 

 isolated cells in which it is possible to follow the effect of the 

 chemical exchange with their natural medium, and to rate their very 

 life by quantity; besides the phagocytosis is an essential factor in 

 the functions of life. In support of this latter contention, we refer 

 to the important place assigned by Metchnikoff to these cells in 

 the struggle of the body against disease; a theory which he has 



!) For detailed account, see "Biochemische Zeitschrift". 



2 ) Hamburger, Zittingsverslag der Koninkl. Akad. v. Wetensch. 29 December 1883. 

 s ) Hamburger, Het gedrag van witte bloedlichaampjes tegenover ryaankalium, 

 Bijdrage tot de kennis der celpermeabiliteit. Feestbundel voor Bosenstein, 1902. 



