464 STUDIES IN GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY 



These are about the same values that we obtained for 

 NaOH, LiOH, and KOH when F=110 and F=60. 



The dissociation of |Ba(OH) 2 and Sr(OH) g in the 

 concentrations employed here is also so complete that there 

 can be no doubt that we are dealing solely with the effects 

 of ions and exclusively with the effects of the hydroxyl ions. 

 When the effects of acids and alkalies are compared, it is 

 seen that hydroxyl ions have a greater influence on the ab- 

 sorption of water than an equal number of H ions in the 

 same volume of the solvent. 



IV. ON THE EFFECTS OF H AND OH IONS ON THE ABSORP- 

 TION OF WATER BY MUSCLE IN LONG-CONTINUED EX- 

 PERIMENTS 



I had next to convince myself whether the experiments 

 above detailed take place in living and irritable muscle or in 

 dead and unirritable muscle. Stimulation experiments 

 showed that the muscle which had remained for one hour 

 in one of the alkali solutions even when F= 60 was still 

 irritable. Irritability was diminished, but it had not dis- 

 appeared. So far as the acids were concerned, it seemed 

 that the solution of an inorganic acid when V= 110 is just 

 as poisonous as that of a base when V= 60, so far as irrita- 

 bility was concerned. We may therefore perhaps say that 

 the H ion is much more poisonous for the muscle than 

 the hydroxyl ion. Of the organic acids which I employed 

 oxalic acid was the most poisonous, while the remaining acids 

 were much less poisonous. Oxalic acid approached the 

 inorganic acids in toxicity. In oxalic acid we deal with the 

 effects of the hydrogen ions. As I intend to return to this 

 subject in another -paper, these remarks may suffice at this 

 time. 



It was further necessary to investigate how the absorption 

 of water by muscle is influenced when the muscle is allowed 

 to remain much longer in the acid and alkali solutions than 



