ENDOSMOSE LfiCT. III. 



Experiments with Water and a Solution of Sugar. 



These facts cannot be explained by assuming that the 

 elevation and increase of volume of the liquid of the two 

 endosmometers arise merely from the difference between 

 the current of endosmose and that of exosmose. If it 

 were so, the endosmometer in which the largest quantity 

 of saline solution had accumulated, ought to contain a 

 liquid less dense than that in the other which presented 

 a less augmentation of volume. These facts may be, on 

 the contrary, completely explained, by assuming that the 

 current of endosmose has been equal, or nearly so in the 

 two positions of the membrane, and that the difference 

 depends altogether in the current of exosmose, which is 

 weakest in that endosmometer in which the elevation is 

 most considerable, and stronger in the one in which the 

 elevation is the slightest. These results give a great im- 

 portance to the influence of the membrane interposed be- 

 tween the two liquids in the phenomenon of endosmose ; 

 for, by its particular nature alone and its physiological 

 function, we can explain the more or less easy passage of 

 different denser liquids towards other less dense ones 

 through the membrane itself. 



Endosmose applied to Physiology. We certainly feel the 

 necessity of having recourse to other experiments in order 



