ACTION OF THE HYPERTONIC SOLUTION 103 
It is clear that the temperature coefficient Q,,) is higher than 
2, in the neighborhood of 3, and that it quickly increases at 
temperatures which are close to 0°, and reaches the value 5 or 
perhaps still higher values.'. Hence the order of magnitude of 
the temperature coefficient indicates that we are dealing here 
with a chemical effect of the hypertonic solution. 
4. Weare in a position to determine more closely the nature 
of the chemical processes upon which the efficiency of the hyper- 
tonic solution depends, namely oxidations. The efficacy of 
the hypertonic solution is completely removed if we inhibit 
oxidations in the egg by means of potassium cyanide or by the 
withdrawal of oxygen.” 
It can be shown that the treatment of eggs after artificial 
membrane formation with hypertonic sea-water remains in- 
effective if the latter contains an insufficient amount of oxygen, 
or if it contains KCN. After removal from such solutions, 
the eggs behave as if only membrane formation had been 
produced, i.e., they begin to develop, but quickly disintegrate 
in the manner described in the previous chapter. A single 
example will suffice to illustrate this. 
Unfertilized eggs of S. purpuratus were placed for one and 
one-half to two minutes in 50 c.c. of sea-water+3 ¢.c. N/10 
butyric acid, and, as usual, all formed a perfect fertilization 
membrane upon transference to sea-water. They were then 
distributed over the following solutions: 
(1) 50 c.c. of sea-water+8 c.c. of 25 m NaCl 
(2) 50 c.c. of sea-water+8 c.c. of 2} m NaCl+2 c.c. 1/20 of 1 per 
cent KCN. 
After 30, 40, 50, 135, 195, 285, 335, 385, 450, and 1,320 minutes, 
a sample of the eggs was transferred to normal sea-water. The 
temperature was 18° C. For the eggs in the first solution, the 
1 Loeb, Untersuchungen, p. 494; University of California Publications, Physiol- 
ogy, III, 39, 1906. 
2 Loeb, Biochem. Zeitschr., 1, 194, 1906. 
