CLOUDY SWELLING 399 



may be ascribed to acids developed in the cell. It is of significance 

 that Chambers^'-* has found that even slight mechanical injury of iso- 

 lated cells under the microscope produces a demonstrable acidity in 

 the protoplasm. Electro-negative proteins in the cell are precipitated 

 by weak concentrations of acids, forming the granules in the cells, 

 which can be dissolved again by a stronger concentration of acid as in 

 the characteristic clearing of granular cells by acetic acid. The 

 swelling is explainable by the increased affinity for water of other cell 

 proteins under the influence of acids. This theory is supported by good 

 experimental evidence and has much in its favor, the chief question 

 being whether the blood cannot, under ordinary conditions of circula- 

 tion, furnish sufficient neutralizing salts to prevent acidification in 

 the cells to cause cloudy swelling. 



s^Amer. Jour. Physiol., 1917 (43), 1. 



