TRANSFORMING AND KEGENERATING ORGANS 637 



but produce comparatively little fermentation; with little 

 oxygen they multiply less but cause a more abundant devel- 

 opment of alcohol and CO 2 . In the liquefaction of the cell- 

 walls of the blastomeres of Ctenolabrus or of Infusoria we may 

 have the analogue of the increased fermentation in Pasteur's 

 experiment. In the latter we have to deal with a special 

 enzyme, the zymase. 



Miescher pointed out that in the salmon a liquefaction of 

 muscular tissue occurs, and that the liquid products are util- 

 ized for the formation of sexual cells. Miescher was inclined 

 to ascribe the liquefaction of the muscle to lack of oxygen. 

 He noticed that the liquefaction of the muscle was preceded 

 by a reduction in the blood supply of the muscles. 1 My own 

 and Budgett's observations agree with Miescher's views.* 



It is possible that the processes of histolysis in the meta- 

 morphosis of insects are of a similar character, and some 

 authors have claimed that the histolysis in this case is 

 brought about by a process of asphyxiation. Metschnikoff 

 assumes that a phagocytosis plays an important role in these 

 phenomena of histolysis. It is certain that in my experi- 

 ments on Ctenolabrus and in Budgett's experiments on 

 Infusoria no phagocytes were present, and it is practically 

 impossible that they played a role in the above-mentioned 

 phenomena in Campanularia. I do not think that the lique- 

 faction of colloids requires the presence of phagocytes any 

 more than the liquefaction of crystals. 



1 Die histochemischen und physiologischen Arbeiten von F. Miescher, Leipzig, Vol. 

 I (1897), pp. 94-100. 



2 It is possible that in the case of Campanularia the histolytic phenomena do not 

 stop with the liquefaction of certain constituents, but that this process is followed by 

 hydrolysis. [1903] 



