210 INFLUENCE OF VARIOUS AGENCIES 



maintaining a normal condition and proper performance of physio- 

 logical functions in living cells. 



Ringer, working before the advent and about the time of the 

 introduction of the modern ionic theory of solutions, did not ex- 

 press his results in the language of that theory, and spoke of " the 

 action of calcium or of lime of potassium or of potash salts," 

 instead of, as in modern terminology, " the effects of molecular 

 concentration of the calcium or potassium ion," and of the effects 

 of acids and alkalies instead of those of hydrogen and hydroxyl 

 ions. But there is no doubt that Ringer thoroughly appreciated 

 that the effects he obtained were due to the one ion of the com- 

 bination he used although he did not speak of it by that name, 

 and that he recognised without naming them as such the antago- 

 nistic action of different ions. 



It is necessary to point out the importance of this early and 

 classical work of Ringer's, because it appears to be in danger of 

 becoming forgotten by modern workers, who often do not refer 

 to him in their account of previous work, and appear to use 

 " Ringer's solution," or modifications of it, with little knowledge 

 of its history, or of the fact that Ringer by its use had shown 

 the all- importance of ions for the maintenance of physiological 

 activity, and had demonstrated the action of sodium, potassium, 

 and calcium ions, and recognised it though not by name as ionic 

 activity, when yet the ionisation theory had obtained but little 

 credence. 



Ringer's experiments upon the effects of acids and alkalies 

 were, however, confined to the action of these in maintaining 

 physiological activity, and it remained for Loeb to demonstrate 

 upon the fertilised eggs of the sea-urchin that the rate of growth 

 is appreciably increased by very minute amounts of alkali added 

 to the sea water, larger amounts stopping the growth entirely. 



The writer, led to the subject from its relationship to malignant 

 growth, by the fact that the secretion of the acid in gastric juice 

 was suppressed or diminished, and the alkalinity of the blood 

 increased in cancer, has carried out, in conjunction with H. E. Roaf 

 and E. Whitley, a series of observations on the effects of acids and 

 alkalies, and of acid and alkaline salts upon the rate of growth and 

 character of the cell division in the fertilised eggs of Echinus escu- 

 lentus. 



It was found that a mere trace of added sodium hydrate viz., 



