230 COLLOIDS IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 



from the swelling of organ colloids, which is induced by acids that are 

 produced by a disturbance in the oxidative processes of an organ. 



The first objection is directed against the assumption that processes 

 which occur in dead colloids may be transferred to the living or- 

 ganism. It was raised by G. BENTNER, JACQUES LOEB and A. R. 

 MOORE. They admit that FISCHER'S experiments apply to dead 

 tissue, especially muscle, but that they fail in the living organ where 

 osmotic processes are active and satisfy all the conditions. The objec- 

 tion of R. HOLER is especially searching, that if only electrolytes may 

 inhibit acid swelling, a piece of muscle would swell in sugar solution. 

 As a matter of fact the muscle volume is unchanged in an isotonic sugar 

 solution. M. H. FISCHER * l combats this by stating that the existence 

 of osmotic membranes in living cells is quite readily conceivable (see 

 p. 290), and points to his experiments which reproduced the contraction 

 of living muscle by means of catgut, a dead colloid material. Osmotic 

 attraction of water is inconceivable nor does it assist the explanation. 



The second objection is directed against the very development of 

 acids in tissues and was raised by A. R. MOORE, who was unable to 

 detect acids by acid f uchsin or neutral red in muscles made edematous 

 according to FISCHER'S technic nor in the lymph or kidneys of rabbits 

 injected with acid salts; and who maintained that consequently the 

 acid content of such tissues is not responsible for the edema or albu- 

 minuria. FISCHER meets this objection by stating that acidity of tis- 

 sues is not to be detected by color indicators since the acids combine 

 with proteins and that even traces of acids induce swelling and that 

 there is no more delicate indicator of acidity than the swelling of 

 proteins. [FISCHER insists that p n swelling in protein nowhere par- 

 allels p H concentration. The degree of swelling follows the order, 

 HC1 > lactic > sulphuric acid. Tr.] 



The third objection is directed against the generalization of FISCH- 

 ER'S hypothesis. FISCHER performed his experiments principally on 

 muscles which behaved by swelling in the presence of acids like fibrin 

 or other dead colloid but this would not apply to all kinds of tissue. 

 Connective tissue and cartilage apparently behave the same way. 

 L. PINCUSSOHN, however, found that kidney, spleen, liver and lung 

 usually became less swollen in acid than in pure water. Kidney cortex 

 and kidney medulla showed a difference in that the former became 

 more swollen in acid and water than the latter. These experiments do 

 not impress me as decisive because physiological salts were absent. 



The behavior of nerve tissue is especially interesting. REICHARDT 

 called attention to a clinical condition which occasionally occurs in 

 dementia prsecox and causes sudden death. He noted an increase of 

 weight and volume in such brains without other detectable macro- or 



