136 Papers from the Marine Biological Laboratory at Tortugas. 



This red salt B A is broken up by NH4OH (or any other alkali) , neutral 

 red (BOH) is freed, and a compound NH4A is formed. The weaker the 

 alkali the greater will be the hydrolytic splitting which its salt, NH4A, will 

 undergo. 



NH4A + H2O = NH4OH + HA 



The NH4OH will diffuse away more rapidly than a stronger base, such 

 as methylamine, and recombination of HA and BOH will consequently 

 occur more rapidly with the reappearance of the red color. 



The results with marine organisms agree in general with those obtained 

 on fresh-water forms. One point of difference is worthy of mention. 

 Ammonia and trimethylamine were found to be less toxic than the remaining 

 amines for Elodea cells, just as in the case of marine forms; but while 

 ammonia was less toxic, trimethylamine was ranked with the remaining 

 amines, not with ammonia, for Paramcscium. I am unable to explain this 

 difference. It is possible that my result with trimethylamine and Para- 

 mcecium may be due to some unforeseen experimental error. In other 

 respects the results agree entirely. 



The effect of alkalies on living tissues in general may be represented as 

 follows : 



