!02 OTTO GLASER. 



membrane and the chorion also contain copper. It is not a regular 

 constituent of agglutinin precipitates, but was found constantly in 

 precipitates of lipolysin. 



8. This association with lipolysin makes possible the localization 

 of both copper and ferment in the cortex of the egg. 



9. The association of copper with lipolysin is not an isolated 

 case. Copper was found also in preparations of pancreatic en- 

 zymes and pepsin. 



10. In eggs exposed to a n/iSo Cu solution for twenty minutes 

 the copper is widely diffused through the cytoplasm and concen- 

 trated in the chorion, the vitelline membrane, and the cortex. 



11. Approximately the amounts of copper normally present in 

 1 c.c. of Arbacia eggs are as follows : 



Unripe ovarian eggs=" i7ju.gr. 

 Ripe shed eggs =175 /a gr. 



Fertilized eggs =" 21 jxgr. 



12. From the preceding and other considerations it is suggested 

 that copper, in general, may be more than an adventitious element, 

 physiological only in pigments, and merely tolerated in all other 

 connections. 



13. The association of copper with enzymes is explained as the 

 outcome of some sort of union, very likely chemical, between en- 

 zymes or co-enzymes, or both, and the metal. It is also suggested 

 that possibly the differences in the proportionality between silver 

 and mercury effects, as well as the Danysz recovery after " poison- 

 ing," may be due to the distribution and subsequent redistribution 

 of the metallic ions between enzymes and co-enzymes. 



14. The oligodynamic action of copper is explained as due to 

 the inactivation of that fraction of the enzyme or co-enzyme which 

 was not normally inactivated by the copper present in the first 

 place. If inactivation is produced by silver, it is suggested that 

 the total inactive enzyme or co-enzyme would be composed of two 

 fractions — the one inactive because of the normal copper content, 

 the other because of the silver added. 



15. It is suggested that the concentration of copper in the ovum 

 at maturity may have something to do with limiting the growth of 

 the egg; that the elimination of copper-bearing pigment during 



