412 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 821 



tlie chemical reactions, especially oxidations 

 underlying this development. The fact that 

 chloral hydrate inhibits the development of the 

 egg and that nevertheless the toxic effects of 

 this substance upon the egg are inhibited by 

 lack of oxygen or by NaCN indicate that the 

 life-saving action of lack of oxygen in this 

 case is due to the inhibition of chemical proc- 

 esses in the egg. 



In former papers I had shown that the un- 

 fertilized egg is much more resistant to toxic 

 media than the fertilized egg and I pointed 

 out that this difference might be due to the 

 difference in the rate of oxidation in both 

 types of eggs. O. Warburg found that 

 through fertilization the rate of oxidation is 

 increased six times its original amount in the 

 egg of Strongylocentrotus ; and Wasteneys and 

 I found that the consumption of oxygen rises 

 in the egg of Arhacia to from three to four 

 times its original value through the act of 

 fertilization. We found, moreover, that the 

 amount of NaCN necessary to prevent the 

 development of the egg of Arhacia and to pre- 

 vent the toxic action of the agencies men- 

 tioned above reduced the consumption of oxy- 

 gen in the fertilized egg to from one third to 

 one half the normal rate. The greater toler- 

 ance of the unfertilized egg towards these 

 toxic media can therefore be explained by the 

 low rate of oxidation in the egg. 



In former papers, and especially in a book 

 published a year ago, I pointed out that the 

 process of membrane formation or a certain 

 alteration of the surface of the egg is the 

 essential cause for the starting of the develop- 

 ment of the egg; and I pointed out, also, that 

 this alteration of the surface might increase 

 the permeability of the egg, especially for 

 hydroxylions. It is indeed easy to show that 

 in certain hyperalkaline solutions the fertil- 

 ized egg of Arhacia gives off its pigment much 

 more readily than does the unfertilized egg. 

 E. Lillie, Harvey, McClendon and Lyon have 

 recently published observations which in their 

 opinion prove that the process of membrane 



formation increases the permeability of the 

 egg. I have found that a mixture of LiCl, 

 KCl and CaCl„ kills the fertilized egg of 

 Arhacia even in the absence of oxygen more 

 rapidly than the unfertilized egg, and it is 

 possible that this difference in susceptibility 

 between the unfertilized egg and the fertilized 

 egg in the absence of oxygen is due to the 

 fact that salts (or that part of the salts which 

 undergoes hydrolytie dissociation) diffuse 

 more rapidly into the fertilized than into the 

 unfertilized egg. Jacques Loeb 



rockefetlee institute, 

 New York 



' oscillations in electric discharge 



In two papers recently published by the 

 Academy of Science of St. Louis' the writer 

 has called attention to oscillations in the air 

 column of a Geissler tube, in connection with 

 the stria. It was shown that the air particles 

 are moving away from the negative terminal 

 in open-air discharge. The Taraday dark 

 space is a convection region. The air par- 

 ticles are supercharged in the region of nega- 

 tive glow, and then the discharge continues 

 by convection across the dark space. The 

 Crookes dark space in a vacimm tube is ap- 

 parently a region of convection of the cor- 

 puscles themselves, before they reach the 

 carriers. 



The positive column is a drainage column 

 where the negative discharge is by a conduc- 

 tion transfer from molecule to molecule 

 towards the exhaust terminal. In the posi- 

 tive column, the air molecules are moving in 

 a direction opposite to the drainage flow of 

 the negative discharge. 



The critical spark length is the length of the 

 Faraday dark space. Dark convection dis- 

 charge columns and luminous conduction 

 columns then exist side by side. Electrically 

 they are friendly, but mechanically they jostle 

 each other about, by reason of the fact that 

 the carriers in these columns are moving in 

 opposite directions. 



The proofs of these conclusions, which ap- 

 pear conclusive, are furnished in the photo- 



'■ Trans., XIX., Nos. 1 and 4. 



