ON PHYSIOLOGICALLY BALANCED SOLUTIONS FOR 
BACTERIA (B. SUBTILIS) 
CHARLES B. LIPMAN 
In a former paper’ I have shown that the laws governing the 
toxic and anti-toxic effects of salts, which LorB and OsTERHOUT 
have found to hold so universally for animals and plants respectively, 
hold also for bacteria if we may consider B. subtilis as representative 
of this group. I shall now attempt to show that as regards complete 
physiologically balanced solutions, the same general relation holds. 
for bacteria as for animals and plants. 
In his experiments on a marine fish (Fundulus) Lors was able to 
show that the views of Hers regarding the absolute necessity for 
each of the constituents of sea water for the complete development - 
of the egg were erroneous, since Fundulus, which would not develop 
in a pure NaCl solution of the same osmotic pressure as sea water, 
would live indefinitely in distilled water, and therefore the salts. 
contained in sea water were necessary, not for nutrient purposes, 
but for the purpose of overcoming toxic effects of other salts, or 
briefly for balancing purposes. From this and other experiments in 
which he was able to overcome the toxicity of NaCl solutions by 
the addition of small amounts of salts like ZnSO,, BaCl,, and 
Pb (CH,COO),, which are themselves exceedingly toxic, LOEB con- 
cluded that physiologically balanced solutions, in which one con- 
stituent overcomes the toxic effect of one or more others, are essential 
for the proper development of animals, and further that the blood 
and sea water may be considered such balanced solutions in nature. 
In similar experiments on plants OsTerHouT? showed that 
LoeB’s conception of “physiologically balanced solutions’ holds. 
good also for that class of organisms. In many series of tests on a 
great variety of marine and freshwater plants that investigator 
proved that the combination of NaCl, KCl, and CaCl, in the propor- 
tions in which they exist in sea water is just as uniformly beneficial 
for plants as for animals. 
t Bor. GazETTE 48:105-125. 1909. 
2 Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 2:no. 10. 1906. 
207] {Botanical Gazette, vol. 49. 
