Death and Dissolution of the Organism 355 



reversible action of certain enzymes, synthetic com- 

 pounds are formed from the building stones furnished 

 by the blood. These synthetic isomers cannot be 

 hydrolyzed by the enzymes by which they are formed 

 and hence on account of the isomeric structure are 

 immune against destruction. It is not impossible that 

 the increase of the concentration of acid in the cells 

 after death transforms the isomers into that form in 

 which they can be digested by the enzymes contained 

 in the cell. Another possibility is that the increase in 

 digestibility brought about by an increase in Ch in 

 the cell is due to the hydrating effect of acids on proteins 

 with a subsequent increase in digestibility. Whatever 

 the answer may be, the work done since Claude Bernard 

 has removed that cloud of obscurity which in his days 

 surrounded the prevalence of synthetic action in the 

 living and of disintegration in the dead tissues. 



3. We have already referred to the connection 

 between the lack of oxygen and the onset of autolysis 

 and disintegration of tissues in the body. It is of 

 interest that there are cells in which the disintegration 

 under the influence of lack of oxygen is so rapid that 

 it can be followed under the microscope. The writer 

 has observed that certain cells undergo complete irre- 

 versible dissolution in a very short time under the 

 influence of lack of oxygen, e. g.y the first segmentation 

 cells of the egg of a teleost fish Ctenolabrus,^ 



* Loeb, J., Arch. f. d. ges. Physiol., 1895, Ixli., 249, 



