972 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 965 



gen or the presence of cyanide (which ren- 

 ders unavailable the oxygen present) re- 

 markably well. Warburg finds that fertil- 

 ized sea-urchin eggs anesthetized by phenyl 

 urethane, so as to be incapable of cell-di- 

 vision, show nevertheless the same oxygen- 

 consumption as the normal unanesthetized 

 eggs. Again, lack of oxygen interferes only 

 gradually with the ciliary action in many 

 organisms, while anesthetics in sufficient 

 concentration arrest the movement in- 

 stantly. It seems necessary to conclude 

 from these facts that the essential action of 

 the anesthetic is of a more general kind, 

 and consists in incapacitating some me- 

 chanism which is essential to the normal ac- 

 tivities of the cell, whether these immedi- 

 ately require oxygen or not. 



The evidence which I have reviewed indi- 

 cates either that this mechanism is the 

 plasma-membrane itself, or that it is closely 

 dependent on the condition of the plasma- 

 membrane. Any condition that renders 

 the membrane incapable of responding to 

 changes of condition by rapid changes of 

 permeability and of electrical polarization 

 has an anesthetic influence. This modifica- 

 tion in the properties of the membrane may 

 be produced either by changing the general 

 condition of the colloids forming it — as in 

 the case of magnesium salts or electrolytes 

 in general — or by specifically altering the 

 state of the lipoid-components, as by or- 

 ganic anesthetics. It is impossible to say 

 at present precisely why the solution 

 of an anesthetic in the lipoids of the 

 membrane should thus alter the proper- 

 ties of this structure. The nearest phys- 

 ico-chemical analogy seems to be the so- 

 called "protective action" of colloids, as 

 exemplified in those cases in which the 

 presence of one colloid interferes with or 

 prevents changes of aggregation-state in 

 another, e. g., when gelatine prevents the 

 precipitation of colloidal gold or platinum 



by a neutral salt like sodium chloride. Ap- 

 parently the lipoids are related to the other 

 colloids of the membrane in such a manner 

 that the condition of the lipoids affects the 

 entire properties of the colloidal structure, 

 and so determines the effect which an elec- 

 trolyte like NaCl, or a stimulating condi- 

 tion like an electric shock or mechanical im- 

 pact, may have upon it. Hence when a 

 lipoid-solvent acts upon the membrane, and 

 dissolves in the lipoids of the latter, it may 

 profoundly change the physical properties 

 of the membrane and hence the responsive- 

 ness of the whole tissue or organism to stim- 

 ulation. On this view the membrane is a 

 main controlling factor in cell-processes, 

 and by changing its state we may alter the 

 entire physiological activity of the cell. 

 Kalph S. Lillie 

 University op Pennsylvania 



PSTCHOLOGISTS AS ADMINISTBATOES^ 

 Casual statements have frequently been 

 made to the effect that many psychologists 

 leave their professional careers to become ad- 

 ministrators of one sort or another, or carry 

 on executive work of a definite kind in addi- 

 tion to their activities as psychologists, with 

 the appended implication that psychology, as 

 a science, suffers a proportionately greater 

 loss of effective workers on this account than 

 do the other sciences. As illustrations of this 

 loss, not a few well-known examples are cited. 

 At first blush, the generalization thus made 

 might be classed under the fallacy of post 

 hoc, ergo propter hoc, but in order to escape 

 this charge ourselves, we must submit the 

 matter to some statistical presentation. 



The executive positions to which academic 

 men are obviously called are presidencies of 

 colleges and universities, and deanships of 

 departments within colleges and universities. 

 Farther down the scale, viz., directorships of 

 laboratories and headships of divisions and 



' Kead before the meeting of the Experimental 

 Psychologists at Wesleyan University on April 12, 

 1913. 



