116 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [SEPTEMBER 
Date (6) experimented with the effect of the current on five 
different species of infusoria found parasitic in the intestine of the 
frog. The organisms were exposed to the current in various solu- 
tions: neutral isotonic saline, slightly acid, and slightly alkaline 
solutions (using litmus as indicator). The organisms were exposed 
to the current in a trough with unglazed earthenware sides about 
I cm. apart, mounted on a slide, the ends of the trough being made 
of sealing wax. Non-polarizable brush electrodes carried the cur- 
rent to the porous earthenware sides. The results were very inter- 
esting. In slightly alkaline solution the organisms migrated toward 
the anode; when in slightly acid solution, toward the cathode. It 
is true that not all of the five species examined were equally sensitive 
to the acid and alkali treatment; that is, it required longer treat- 
ment in the solutions for some species than for others in order to 
produce the same effect. In more concentrated salt solutions 
(good electrical conductors) the migration of the organisms was 
inhibited. 
More recently LILLIE (15) exposed to the direct current various 
animal structures: isolated nuclei, nuclei of spermatozoa, small 
leucocytes, and nuclei from lymphoid tissue, also muscle cells teased 
out in sugar solution, red blood corpuscles, and larger forms of 
leucocytes. These were suspended in N/4 cane-sugar solution 
(iso-osmotic with physiological salt solution). In freshly drawn 
frog’s blood, the majority of the red corpuscles moved slowly (at an 
average speed of 120-130 w per minute) toward the anode, many 
showed no migration whatever, and a few moved toward the cath- 
ode. The minute lymphocytes moved more rapidly toward the 
anode at a speed of 1500 w per minute. The medium sized leuco- 
cytes were usually slightly negative (moved toward the anode) or 
indifferent. The larger leucocytes, however, with more cytoplasm, 
were in almost all cases decidedly positive (moved toward the 
cathode). The nuclei obtained by teasing thymus gland and the 
heads of spermatozoa moved rapidly toward the anode. The rate 
of the latter was about 2.0mm. per minute. LILLie£’s conclusion, 
that ‘‘the direction and speed of living cells and portions of tissues 
are chiefly dependent on the electrical characteristics of their con- 
stituent colloids,” seems justified. 
