154 PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY IN MEDICINE. 



the main, with that for the precipitation of electropositive 

 protein when the ions are arranged in the order in which 

 they render visible certain elements of the ganglion cells, 

 such as NISSL bodies and nucleoli. 



But that an electrical difference exists between nuclear 

 substance and cell protoplasm even in the living cell is 

 rendered probable through many facts. RALPH LILLIE 

 found a difference in the direction in which spermatozoa 

 and cells rich in protoplasm move in the electric current, 

 and MARTIN H. FISCHER and WOLFGANG OSTWALD 

 have already tried to give a physico-chemical theory of 

 fertilization. However imperfect these attempts must 

 of necessity seem, the successful establishment of a certain 

 parallelism between those factors which, on the one hand, 

 bring about artificial parthenogenesis and, on the other, 

 cause a precipitation of solid colloids* is of permanent 

 value. The similarity of the formation of the astrosphere 

 about the spermatozoon which has entered an egg with 

 certain precipitations produced in colloids has been re- 

 peatedly noticed by investigators. 



But we will keep from entering fields which have 

 as yet been but little opened experimentally, and in closing 

 point out a relation which by itself is not without general 

 interest and which may also be of service to the investigator. 



Between the reactions of colloids which take place 

 with an equalization of electrical differences and the 

 reactions of the immune bodies there exists a relation 

 which is as intimate as anything can be, an idea which 

 has already been illustrated in another place. More- 

 over, a more than accidental similarity seems to exist 

 between immune reactions and the changes which take 

 place in the process of fertilization. 



