388 



COLLOIDS IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 



subcutaneously or intravenously injected. I wish to call attention 

 to the fact that according to O. FORGES and E. NEUBAUER * MgSOi 



77 4 



and MgCl2 in -^ solution, unlike other electrolytes, have very nar- 



J.UU A 



row precipitation limits for lecithin suspensions; with this fact their 

 narcotic action possibly stands in some relation. Lower animals are 

 also narcotized by magnesium salts. On this account it is used by 

 zoologists to fix objects in their natural state, because Mg narcosis is 

 not preceded by irritation. There is still not very much evidence 

 that change in swelling is inhibited by narcotics; the evidence must 

 be reinforced, especially by simple test-tube experiments on the rela- 

 tive influence of salts and narcotics in changing the turgor of lipoids. 

 We see here a promising field for experiment. It may be possible 

 to combine this theory with that of VERWORN'S school. According 

 to their view, the oxidation processes in the cell are arrested during 

 narcosis, a hypothesis supported by numerous experiments. [A. R. 

 C. HAAS has recently shown that when Laminaria is exposed to anes- 

 thetics (in sufficient concentration to produce any result) there is an 

 increase in respiration, which may be followed by a decrease if the re- 

 agent is sufficiently toxic. Science N. S., No. 1193, p. 46 et seq. Tr.] 

 In this connection it must be recalled, especially, that oxygen and 

 carbonic acid are much more soluble in lipoids than in water and that 

 narcotics diminish the absorption capacity of the cell lipoids for oxy- 

 gen (G. MANSFELD *). It would be interesting to determine the 

 extent to which this solubility is influenced by the turgor of the lipoids. 

 Elsewhere I have already stated that the MEYER-OVERTON theory 

 of narcosis demands a reversible distribution of the narcotic be- 

 tween lipoids and plasma. Whether this distribution occurs as a 

 HENRY'S distribution or as an adsorption is immaterial in principle 

 (but not for the action!). According to a table of M. NICLOUX * the 

 distribution of chloroform seems to me to approach that of adsorp- 

 tion. After the termination of narcosis, the blood of a dog con- 

 tained the following content of chloroform (in per cent). 



CHLOROFORM CONTENT IN PER CENT. 



