EFFECT OF EXTRINSIC FACTORS 89 



had, even in the treatment of abscesses, no dazzling results, 

 studies upon the influence exerted by extrinsic factors upon 

 autolysis are full of practical interest in view of the unques- 

 tionable importance the process has in every question of 

 tissue resorption (v. supra). Only the most interesting 

 references will be briefly made here from a rich literature 

 bearing upon the subject. 41 



It is known from experiment that autolysis, which can 

 set in at the natural reaction of the animal juices, is very 

 notably increased by addition of small amounts of acid, even 

 of so weak an acid as carbonic acid. 42 From this it may be 

 concluded that autolysis is relatively dependent upon the in- 

 tra- vital and postmortem proportion of acid in the tissues ; 

 that, for instance, the insignificance of autolysis in em- 

 bryonal tissues is perhaps due to the low power of these tis- 

 sues to form acid. 43 The idea has been suggested that the 

 increased tissue-protein destruction seen in the asphyxias 

 may have some connection with an increased autolysis made 

 possible by the increased carbonic acid present under such 

 circumstances. 44 As blood serum 45 exerts an inhibitory in- 

 fluence upon autolysis (which is, however, in no wise specific, 

 and inheres moreover to other colloids, as egg-albumin and 

 gelatin 46 ) it may be supposed that this factor may be 

 involved in a regulative way over catabolism of the tissue 

 proteins. It should not be forgotten, however, that the rela- 

 tion supposed to exist between the latter and autolysis is 

 at least for the present entirely hypothetical. 



41 Literature upon Effect of Extrinsic Factors upon Autolysis: C. Oppen- 

 heimer, Die Fermente, 3d ed., pp. 245-246, 1910. 



43 S. Arinkin (Salkowski's Lab., Berlin), Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 55, 

 192, 1907; S. Yoshimoto, ibid., 58, 341, 1909. 



48 L. B. Mendel and C. S. Leavenworth, Amer. Journ. of Physiol., 21, 

 69, 1908. 



44 L. Bellazzi (Ascoli's Lab., Pavia), Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 57, 389, 

 1908. 



* J. Baer, Arch. f. exper. Pathol., 56, 68, 1906. 



46 W. T. Longcope, Journ. of Medical Research, 18, 45, 1908. 



