AUGMENTED BY PUTREFACTION 309 



was evident that the first extracts which we tried were 

 not strong enough to induce divisions in the ex- 

 perimental ten minutes. If they became putrid, 

 however, they apparently were. 1 The putrid solution 

 was again tried, and again the asymmetrical divisions 

 were seen. Now, these asymmetrical divisions are 

 frequently induced by azur dye when it is augmented 

 by atropine, and therefore we thought that it might 

 be possible that the putrefaction of the extract might 

 produce in it an augmenting substance which acted 

 like the atropine. 



Fresh suprarenal extract was then made, and after 

 it had been dried it was redissolved in water. It was 

 made up in a 10-per-cent solution, and various quanti- 

 ties of it were added to jellies which contained 1 cc. 

 of alkali solution (10 units), and it also had added to it 

 0.7 of a 1-per-cent solution of atropine sulphate. It 

 was now found that the atropine augmented the action 

 of the suprarenal extract five-fold, in the same way as it 

 augmented the action of the azur dye that is to say, 

 with suprarenal extract by itself, and no atropine, the 

 10 cc. of jelly, if it contains alkali to the extent of 

 10 units, must contain at least 0.05 gramme of dried 

 suprarenal extract before the earliest sign of cell- 

 division can be induced in ten minutes. To obtain well- 

 marked divisions the jelly should contain 0.2 gramme 

 of the extract. 



If atropine is added, however, in the strength of 



1 Some 100-per-cent suprarenal extract has been purposely allowed to 

 become infected, when it induced divisions in lymphocytes (figs. 103, 104). 

 Control tubes of extract not so infected had not this action. 



