March, 1913. 



KNOWLEDGE. 



Ill 



will be found that towards spring the contents are 

 gradually retracting from the sac wall, and, if at 

 this stage the organism is very carefully watched day 

 by day, it will be found that a division of the sarcode 

 is taking place, in similar fashion to the ordinary one 

 ahead}' described. Soon, the two organisms separate, 

 acquire envelopes and flagella, and then the sac wall 

 appears to give way, and finally they are liberated. 

 If one of the free organisms is followed, it will be 

 found to gradually increase in size till reproduction 

 by fission takes place. The discovery of these 

 winter resting-spores is important, as it explains how 

 these organisms can survive the winter. I had 

 previously noticed that normal forms were never to 

 be observed during the winter months, and was now 

 possessed of the explanation. During the autumn 

 of the present year I was engaged in the further 

 study of these spores, when it occurred to me that 

 they formed a very suitable subject for testing the 

 supposed action of Auxetics. Auxetics are substances 

 discovered by Dr. H. C. Ross in 1909, while engaged 

 in cancer research. Dr. Ross, and his colleagues at 

 the Lister Institute, have shown that certain chemical 

 bodies are developed during cell-death, and that 

 these bodies act as excitors of cell-reproduction. 

 Dr. Ross was further able to observe for the first 

 time the division of human leucocytes by the action 

 of these substances. Auxetics can be divided into 

 two classes, natural and artificial. The natural 

 auxetics are obtained from dead animal matter, 

 especially material rich in lymphocytes. The 

 artificial auxetics are bodies which contain the 

 Amidine group, such as Theobromine, Caffeine and 

 Acetamidine. Dr. Ross showed in addition that 

 alkaloids were excitors of amoeboid action in 

 leucocytes, and also that they acted as augmentors 

 of auxetics. It had been suggested by critics that 

 the mitotic figures obtained by Ross and his 

 colleagues were artefacts, and I determined to 

 experiment on the resting spores already described. 

 Using a live slide containing spores through 

 which a slow current of water could be passed. I 

 accordingly prepared a solution containing four 

 cubic centimetres of a concentrated extract of 

 suprarenal gland, -2 cubic centimetres of a one 

 per cent, solution of atropine sulphate and -5 cubic 

 centimetres of a five per cent, solution of sodium 

 bicarbonate. This was made up to ten cubic 

 centimetres with distilled water, and the spores 

 were kept continuously moist with this solution. 

 In the course of forty - eight hours a slight 

 constriction appeared in the sarcode which 

 gradually deepened, and finally actually division 

 took place, the products separating. (See Figure 112.) 

 Controls containing no auxetics gave negative results. 

 Working again with a very concentrated supra- 

 renal extract augmented by the action of a one 



per cent, solution of Cadaverine I found that out 

 of a total of forty-three spores in one field thirty- 

 seven had undergone division within forty-eight 

 hours. I was not, however, satisfied with this, as 

 I was anxious to see whether the fully-developed 

 organism could not be obtained from the spore. 

 I accordingly worked with the solution just 

 described, but kept the slide in the incubator at 

 25°C, examining the same at intervals of two 

 hours. Division had commenced in forty-eight 

 hours, in eighteen out of twenty-five in one field 

 and the fully-developed organisms were formed 

 after another thirty-six hours in seven of these 

 eighteen ; three spores actually discharged their 

 contents, which swam away apparently normal 

 in all respects. (See Figure 114.) I have also 

 been able to obtain evidence of division upon 

 auxetic jelly, containing stain, the full description 

 of which is contained in " Induced Cell Repro- 

 duction and Cancer," by H. C. Ross (London : 

 John Murray). This action of auxetics on these 

 spores is extremely interesting, as it raises the 

 point whether the former may not be necessary 

 to cause the latter to develop in the spring. Pond 

 water usually contains decaying vegetable and 

 animal matter, and hence auxetics are probably 

 present in solution. Whether it also contains aug- 

 mentors one cannot yet say, though I am making 

 experiments in this direction. From my own 

 observations on these spores I am convinced that 

 mere change in temperature will not explain the 

 development in the spring, for spores may be 

 incubated at summer temperature and still refuse to 

 develop. Whether, with the advent of spring, 

 auxetics and augmentors are formed in pond water . 

 in large quantities, and thus cause the dormant life 

 to awake, is a point still to be settled, but in the 

 light of present knowledge it appears extremely 

 probable that the answer is in the affirmative. 



I was afterwards able to improve the technique, and 

 found that divisions could be more certainly induced 

 if the water containing the spores was placed in 

 small glass tubes, and the solution containing the 

 auxetics then added. These tubes are then corked 

 and placed in the incubator, and kept at 25°C for 

 forty-eight hours, when portions of the contents may 

 be examined from time to time. The possible 

 production of auxetics in stagnant water is interest- 

 ing, as cancer is often stated to be more prevalent in 

 districts where stagnant water and decaying vegeta- 

 tion are present. 



In conclusion, I have to express my indebtedness 

 to Messrs. Watson & Sons, who kindly placed two 

 of their new holoscopic objectives at my disposal, 

 viz., a two millimetre immersion and a four milli- 

 metre dry, with the help of which several of 

 the illustrations were made. 



