NEW CONCEPTIONS IN SCIENCE 



of old Cambridge, in England, demonstrated that 

 the colloid particles bear an electrical charge, that 

 these complex molecules (some chemists suppose 

 the ordinary white-of-egg molecules to contain five 

 or six thousand atoms) act just like a simple ion. 

 Further, Hardy showed that the colloids carry a 

 positive charge, and are then precipitated by the 

 negative ions. 



There was another notable work being done, by 

 Overton and others, on the effect of anaesthetics; 

 chloroform, ether all their like dissolve fats. Their 

 action on the nerves is to deaden, to stop sensa- 

 tion that is, to retard the progress of the nerve 

 impulse. And the nerves are, to put it crude- 

 ly, simply highly phosphorized fats in a weak salt 

 solution. 



To bridge over from the one to the other of these 

 striking facts needed but a constructive imagina- 

 tion, and that the quick mind of Professor Math- 

 ews supplied If, he said, the nerves consist of 

 colloid particles in suspension, and the effect of 

 chloroform is to make a solution thinner by dis- 

 solving the particles further, that must be the 

 process by which a nerve loses its ability to be ex- 

 cited. The thinner the solution in the nerve the 

 less easily it conducts. The process of stimulation 

 must be just the opposite. A nerve conducts 

 better, is more easily stimulated, the nearer it 



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