18 



Absorption of Liquids by Animal Tissues 



TABLE XI 



VII. EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE ON ABSORPTION PHENOMENA 



Van Bemmelen found, in his work on inorganic colloids, that the power of 

 absorption decreased with the temperature. This, he explained, was due to a change 

 in the structure of the colloid, which change resulted in the transformation of the 

 colloid into a much denser physical state. He says that every change in structure of 

 a colloid causes a change in the absorption power of a colloid, if this structure be non- 

 reversible when brought into contact with a solution. All such modifications cause 

 (1) a thickening or drawing together of the walls of the colloid, (2) a narrowing of 

 spaces in the substance of the colloid, (3) a change of capillary force, and (4) a con- 

 sequent change of the absorption coefficient of the colloid. 



As we are dealing with a non-reversible gel, the protoplasm, we should expect to 

 find that any modification, brought about by temperature, in the muscle, would show 

 the decrease of absorptive power spoken of above. 



Our first experiments bearing on this point were made with temperatures easily 

 found in the laboratory. The muscles were placed in the solutions and allowed to 

 remain at the same temperature for 24 hours, at end of which time they were weighed 

 and their absorption calculated. 



The results of these first experiments showed that, in the range of temperatures 

 found in the laboratory, absorption effects were practically the same for the same salt 

 and same concentration of this salt. We, therefore, arranged a series of experiments 

 in which the muscle was put into rigor by being heated to 50-52°C in a solution of 

 ^m. NaCl for 10 minutes. After being thus treated the muscle is dried, weighed, and 

 placed in certain solutions for 24 hours. Control experiments were made with muscle 

 not in rigor. The striking effects may be observed from the following table. 



From above data it is quite evident that some change has occurred in the muscle 

 which lessens the power of absorption. The result is most striking in cases of 

 l^mKCl and |m CaClg. We see here that a muscle in rigor absorbs only a very slight 

 amount of fluid if placed in a KCl solution while in a CaClg solution a much greater 

 absorption or, rather, a smaller negative absorption is observed. The conclusions are 

 quite evident that some structural change has occurred in the muscle which modifies 

 the absorptive power of the muscle. Comparing this result with those of van Bemmelen 

 we are led to believe that the structure of the muscular protoplasm is much like that of 

 the gel of SiOg, viz., a web-like structure of colloid, holding, in its micellary and 



120 



