504 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION I). 



4. That the influence of tern- 4. That the temperature co- 



perature upon living tissues is such efficients for reactions involving 



as to indicate that the ion-proteids amphoteric electrolytes are abnor- 



are chemical compounds. But the mally large because their dissocia- 



temperature coefficients obtained tion is abnormally influenced by 



are often abnormally large. temperature (84). 



Since we know that proteins are ampholytes, and that they combine 

 with non-amphoteric acids, bases, and probably salts, and we have seen 

 that an ampholyte system possesses the properties which have been 

 ascribed to the ion-proteids, we are, I think, justified in making the fol- 

 lowing assumptions : — 



1. That the compounds which have been termed "ion-proteids" 

 are in reality ampho-salts of the proteins (i?.^-, NaXOH, HXCl). 



2. That the non-dissociable compounds of protein with non-ampho- 

 teric ions which exist in tissues are in reality ampho-salts dissociating as 

 acids and bases or else di-salts {e.g., Na X+ + 0H~, H + ^-XCl" or 

 NaXCl). 



3. That the influence of electrolytes upon the properties and reac- 

 tions of living tissues may probabl}^ be referred in the main to alterations 

 in the ratio of the basic ampholates {e.g., HX+-[- 0H~) to the acid 

 ampholates {e.g., H+-f XOH~) and to the formation of ampho-salts and 

 di-salts. 



In conclusion I may allude to the fact that the whole ion-proteid 

 hypothesis has received striking confirmation from the recent very 

 interesting experiments of Professor W. A. Osborne, of Melbourne 

 University (85), who has succeeded in directly proving in the simpler 

 case what the supporters of the ion-proteid theory have throughout 

 assumed or endeavored to prove indirectly in more complex cases, namely, 

 that the ions of a solution bathing a cell enter into combination with the 

 proteins within the cell, displacing the ions previously in combination. 

 Professor Osborne dialysed a solution of calcium caseinate against a 

 solution of sodium chloride and found that after a certain period the 

 calcium in the calcium caseinate had been replaced by sodium derived 

 from the sodium chloride. Other dissociable salts of colloidal acids and 

 crystalloid bases dialysed against solution of dissociable crystalloid salts 

 behave similarly. Proteid solutions dialysed against weak solutions of 

 mercuric chloride tend to retain the heavy metal, and thus acquire 

 a greater concentration of the latter than exists in the dyalising fluid. 

 Obviously we have here an almost complete analogy to the ion-proteid 

 theory of the interchange of salts between a living tissue and the external 

 solution. 



Or, if we desire a still simpler analogy, and one derived from the 

 field of inorganic chemistry, I may allude to the researches of Sullivan 

 (86), who, following up the work of Lemberg, Van Bemmelen, and 

 others, has recently shown that if the almost insoluble feldspars, ortho- 

 clase, albite, and 'microcline and other insoluble silicates containing 

 alkali and alkaline earth bases be placed in a powdered condition in a 

 solution of cupric sulphate, they will remove a considerable quantity of 

 the copper from the solution, the copper of the copper sulphate replacing 

 alkali and alkaline earth bases in the silicate. Obviously, if we substi- 

 tute living cells for the silicate crystals, we have a somewdiat analogous 

 chemical process occurring in the two cases. 



