SALTS NECESSARY FOR LIFE 49 



means ; but no matter what strength of auxetics 

 was used, healthy red blood-corpuscles refused to 

 show any signs of division under the microscope. 

 However, the jelly method of examination brought 

 to light certain features in these cells which 

 before were unknown. 



A jelly containing the necessary substances was 

 said to have a certain Index of Diffusion (3) 

 according to the amount of those substances and 

 its alkalinity and saline content. As the beha- 

 viour of the lymphocytes, leucocytes, and other 

 cells varied according to that Index of Diffusion 

 of the jelly on which they were resting, and was 

 influenced by the degree of temperature and the 

 length of exposure to it, these cells were said to 

 possess certain Coefficients of Diffusion (3) ; for 

 it was found that these cells will only divide when 

 the necessary substances have diffused into them 

 at a certain rate. But it was also noted that the 

 same kind of cell, for example lymphocytes, 

 possessed varying coefficients of diffusion when 

 taken from persons suffering from certain diseases; 

 thus lymphocytes taken from a case of cancer 

 have a lower coefficient than normal cells, and the 

 substances will diffuse into them more easily than 

 into the cells of healthy persons. 



But in any case, it is necessary to keep the cells 

 for ten minutes at 37 C. on a jelly which contains 

 the auxetic substance and salts in suitable pro- 

 portion ; unless all these factors are present the 

 cells will not divide. If blood-corpuscles are 

 placed on a jelly containing no salts they are 

 destroyed at once the leucocytes burst, and the 

 erythrocytes lake (4). A certain salt content, 

 4 



