Igt0} SLOCKBERGER—TOXIC SOLUTIONS AND MITOSIS 423 
showed clearly the polar caps. There were no abnormal structures. 
At the end of 24 hours there were no mitoses, all the cells were evi- 
dently dead. 
In the tips exposed for ten minutes to the o. 5 per cent solution, and 
then placed in distilled water for three hours, mitotic figures occurred 
even in the outer cells of the periblem. The cytoplasm of these cells 
usually contained several large vacuoles and the nuclei were all 
normal in appearance. All stages of normal mitosis were abundant. 
After 6 hours little change in appearance was visible, but after 24 
hours the cells of the outer layers were dead. However, all stages of 
normal division were abundant in the plerome and inner periblem. 
Normal mitoses were abundant in the tips of radicles placed in 
the 0.25, 0.1, and o.or per cent strychnin solution for ten minutes, 
then in distilled water for 3, 6, and 24 hours. There was no evidence 
that the strychnin solution had exerted any harmful action in the 
last three concentrations, during ten minutes’ exposure. 
The data on the effects of strychnin on higher plants are not very 
extensive. According to PFEFFER (25), it has not been satisfactorily 
determined that alkaloids affect the protoplasm of plants. In his 
discussion of the effects of alkaloids in general, CZAPEK (5) says: 
“Fiir héhere Pflanzen stellte schon Knop an Mais fest, dass Chinin, 
Cinchonin, Morphin schédlich wirken, und auch hier gehéren Chinin, 
Strychnin, Cocain zu den giftigsten Substanzen, wahrend Morphin 
relativ schwach einwirkt (Marcacci).” Mosso (14) found that 
©.05 per cent solutions of strychnin stimulated germination in Pha- 
seolus multiflorus, but that more concentrated solutions retarded it. 
Davenport (6) states that the protoplasm in the tentacles of Drosera 
is killed by the action of strychnin. He mentions also its retarding 
action on the germination of peas, corn, and lupines, but unfortunately 
the concentrations which exerted a harmful action were not given. 
The action of alkaloids on Protozoa has been investigated by 
SCHURMAYER (28) and others, with results that apparently confirm the 
theory advanced by Loew (13) that the action of alkaloids is mainly 
confined to the plasma of the ganglion cells. CLARK (4) found that 
Species of fungi, notably Sterigmatocystis, as well as Aspergillus and 
Oedocephalum, grew and fruited in a saturated solution of strychnin 
Sulfate. CLarK finds that his studies on the molds harmonize with the 
