On the Biochemical Relationship between the „Staircase" 

 phenomenon and fatigue. 



By 



T. Brailsford Robertson. 



(From the Rudolph Spreckels Physiological Laboratory of the üniversity 



of CaUfornia). 



I. Introduction. 



I. The general Characteristics of Autocatalysed Chemical Reactions. 



There are a number of chemical reactions which are mark- 

 edly accelerated by one o more of the substances which enter 

 into the reaction, this acceleration being due to the fact that 

 the substance or substances in question act as catalysors of 

 the reaction; such reactions are termed, by Ostwald^), in- 

 stances of Autocatalysis. 



If we consider the velocity of the reaction in such a sense 

 that one of the products of the reaction is the catalyst, then 

 the characteristic differential equation for a monomolecular re- 

 action of this type is: 



-- = lcx{A — x) 

 dt ^ 



which expresses in mathematical symbols the fact that the 



velocity of the transformation is, at any instant, proportional 



to the amount of the material which is undergoing change 



and to the amount of the material which has already been 



transformed. The velocity of the reaction, were it not cata- 



lysed by one of the products, would, according to Guldberg 



andWaages's mass-law, be simply proportional to the active 



mass of unaltered substance. The reaction being autocatalysed, 



1) Ostwald, Ber. über d. Verhandl. d. kgl. Sachs. Ges. d. 

 Wiss.. 1890, 189. 



