12 CAUSE OF THE SHRIVELLING OF 



when If the bladder could take up or absorb equal 



strewed 



with salt, volumes of brine and water, or of alcohol and water, 

 alcohol! m then when the fresh bladder was strewed with salt, 

 or laid in alcohol, the volume of the absorbed liquid 

 would be unaltered, and an equal volume of saline 

 solution, or of diluted alcohol, would be retained by 

 the animal tissue. But since the absorbent power 

 of the tissue for water is diminished by the addition 

 of salt, or of alcohol, it follows plainly, that a cer- 

 tain quantity of water must be expelled as soon as 

 its character is changed by the addition of one of 

 these substances. 

 The cause The relation of bladder, fibrine, and other animal 



of this is . , 



the less substances, when saturated with water, to alcohol and 

 the'tissue brine, proves, that the shrinking (diminution of 

 &c * than ' volume) of these tissues does not depend on a sim- 

 ple abstraction of water in virtue of the affinity of 

 alcohol and of salt for that liquid ; for it is quite 

 certain that the attraction of alcohol to water, and 

 that of water to alcohol, are respectively equal. The 

 attraction of the water within the tissue for the 

 alcohol without, is just as strong as the power of the 

 alcohol without to combine with the water within. 

 Less alcohol is taken up, and more water given out, 



19' 54 of water) were reduced, in 45 grammes of absolute alcohol, 

 to 16-12 grammes, losing, therefore, 9'90 grammes. Admitting 

 the absorbed liquid to have the composition of the unabsorbed 

 residue (70 per cent, of alcohol), it appears, that for 1 volume of 

 alcohol absorbed by fibrine, rather more than 2 J volumes of water 

 are separated. 



