REACTIONS IN LIVING MATTER 



cells. Macfadyan and Rowland proposed a very 

 good amendment of this method. The living 

 organs are brought together with liquid air, and 

 are very quickly frozen to stone-hard masses. 

 Now they may easily be ground in the mortar. 

 Before thawing toluol is added, and this paste of 

 cells is ready for autolytic experiments. These 

 methods, highly developed as they are, are con- 

 tinually increasing in number and value. A con- 

 siderable number of reactions are now separable 

 from general cell life, and these reactions may be 

 studied isolated from life. Such is the aim of 

 modern biochemistry. 



Chemical reactions are bound by certain con- 

 ditions. They may by some means be accelerated 

 or diminished. The chief influences we meet with 

 in the chemical laboratory are temperature, 

 physical condition, separating and mixing. 



Chemists are always ready to boil a test when 

 they desire to accelerate the dissolution or reaction 

 of a substance. It is a matter of common know- 

 ledge that chemical reactions are considerably 

 hastened by a higher temperature. It is true 

 that plants as a rule do not show a higher tempera- 

 ture than the temperature of the surrounding air. 

 But there are remarkable exceptions. Bacteria 

 have been found in rotting hay and other decom- 

 posing plant material and also fungi, which pro- 

 duce a very high degree of heat even as much 

 as 60 degrees. Similar results were obtained with 

 67 



