248 SOAPS AND PROTEINS 



When it is observed that the colloid-chemical interplay between 

 protein colloids, water and various so-called " elect mlytes " is 

 governed both qualitatively and quantitatively by the same laws 

 which govern various physiological functions (like water absorp- 

 tion, muscular contraction, nerve conduction, sense of taste, 

 digestion, enzymatic reaction, etc.) it follows that the essence 

 of these physiological reactions must also be found in such colloid- 

 chemical changes in the protein fraction of the protoplasmic 

 mass. We locate, in other words, the portion of the living mass 

 in which physiological behavior has its seat. And in pathology, 

 it is again obvious that if the laws governing various pathological 

 changes are those which govern the colloid-chemical behavior of 

 proteins we obtain here, too, an answer to the nature of these 

 changes while discovering, at the same time, the principles which 

 must guide us in their treatment. 



Protoplasm when " stimulated " or injured manifests sub- 

 sequently a " current of action " or " reaction to injury." Physio- 

 logically we know that the irritated or injured protoplasm becomes 

 more acid, that its electrical potential toward an uninjured or less 

 injured part changes, and that it shows an increased osmotic pres- 

 sure; pathologically we observe the injured protoplasm to swell, 

 to undergo, perhaps, a " cloudy " swelling or " albuminous 

 degeneration," which when sufficiently severe may be followed 

 by " fatty degeneration " and death of the involved part (" necro- 

 sis "). 



The concepts developed in the preceding pages may serve to 

 indicate how these physiological, anatomical and pathological 

 entities hang together. The production of acid in a part, either 

 through activity or injury, must, of necessity, bring with it an 

 electrical change, succeeded by a chemical one in which the pro- 

 teins of the involved protoplasm are given an increased hyd ra- 

 tion capacity and so, if water is present, are made to swell. Such 

 swelling will, however, be. manifested only by proteins of the 

 albumin type. The globulins, on the other hand (which as 

 sodium, magnesium or calcium globulinate have in this form a 

 higher hydration capacity), will be robbed of their bases, and, as 

 the less hydratable "free" " globulinic acid " tend to be pre- 

 cipitated. The combination yields a precipitated material within 

 a swollen one, in other words, the anatomical picture of cloudy 

 swelling. But the swollen proteins are also more soluble in water. 



