750 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1117 



An exceedingly comprehensive work on the 

 mineral springs of Japan has just been pub- 

 lished by Dr. E. Ishizu, expert of the Imperial 

 Hygienic Laboratory at Tokyo.* No less than 

 1,201 of these springs are tabulated, and a very 

 large number of analyses are given, as well as 

 tables of the radioactive springs of Japan, and 

 of the leading European springs of this inter- 

 esting class. Part III. offers notes on promi- 

 nent spas and resorts. The numerous plates 

 illustrate the scenic beauties of the various 

 localities. George F. Kunz 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



ANTAGONISTIC ELECTROLYTE EFFECTS IN 

 PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS' 



The purpose of this paper is to summarize 

 briefly certain experiments regarding the influ- 

 ence exerted by antagonistic electrolytes on 

 emulsions and other physical systems, and to 

 compare the data in question with those avail- 



s The summation is .30 in error, which exists in 

 the manuscript. 



* ' ' The Mineral Springs of Japan, ' ' with tables 

 of analyses, radioactivity, notes on prominent 

 spas and list of seaside resorts and summer re- 

 treats, specially edited for the Panama-Pacific In- 

 ternational exposition, by Dr. R. Ishizu, expert 

 of the Imperial Hygienic Laboratory, Tokyo Im- 

 perial Hygienic Laboratory, 1915, x -(- 94 -|- 203 

 -f- 70 -f 8 pp., maps and illust., and 76 plates, 

 folio. 



1 A summary of a paper read before the Bio- 

 logical-Chemical Society, Boston, Mass., Decem- 

 ber 28, 1915. Eeeeived for publication December 

 29, 1916. Publication delayed on account of neces- 

 sity of condensation within suitable dimensions for 

 this journal. (Prom the Biological-Chemical Lab- 

 oratory of the State Institute for the Study of 

 Malignant Disease, Buffalo, N. Y.) 



able regarding the influence exerted by the 

 same antagonistic electrolytes on living cells, 

 in an attempt to throw some light on the phys- 

 ical structure of protoplasm and the mechan- 

 ism of certain vital processes. 



In spite of the accumulation by Jacquea 

 Loeb, and other biologists, of a large amoimt 

 of accurate experimental data regarding the 

 effects exerted by electrolytes, singly and in 

 combination, on living cells, there is, at pres- 

 ent, no generally accepted physical explanation 

 for the antagonistic or compensatory effects 

 exerted by electrolytes on one another in bio- 

 logical systems. 



In a preliminary communication published 

 in 1913 based on certain physical and biolog- 

 ical experiments, details regarding which will 

 be found in a subsequent section of this paper, 

 it was concluded that, with certain exceptions 

 to be considered later, electrolytes may be 

 divided, as regards their effect on the proto- 

 plasmic membrane, into two main antagonistic 

 groups according to whether, like CaCL, they 

 possess a more readily adsorbed or reactive 

 cation, or, like ISTaOH, NaCl, etc., a more 

 readily adsorbed or reactive anion. Substances 

 of the former class appear to diminish the 

 permeability of the membrane to water, while 

 those of the latter class increase the permea- 

 bility of the membrane. As will be seen later, 

 the ratios in which antagonistic electrolytes 

 counterbalance one another in biological sys- 

 tems correspond so closely with the ratios in 

 which they balance one another in physical 

 systems as to suggest the probability that bal- 

 anced electrolyte solutions, like sea-water and 

 the blood of mammals, are those in which the 

 proportions of cations and anions adsorbed on 

 or reacting with the protoplasmic membrane 

 are equal, or at least compensatory, with the 

 result that the colloidal equilibrium, and con- 

 sequently the permeability of the membrane, 

 remains unchanged. A somewhat similar con- 

 clusion was reached by Osterhout as a result 

 of experiments on the electric conductivity of 

 laminaria tissues. Under comparable experi- 

 mental conditions the tissues which had been 

 exposed to sea-water exhibited a practically 

 constant resistance to the passage of an electric 

 current, but, after exposure to solutions of 



