356 Death and Dissolution of the Organism 



When these eggs are deprived of oxygen at the time they 

 reach the eight- or sixteen-cell stage, it can be noticed that 

 the membranes of the blastomeres are transformed into 

 small droplets within half an hour or more, according to 

 the temperature. These droplets begin to flow together, 

 forming larger drops. [Figures 48 to 5 1 show the successive 



Fig. 48 



Fig. 49 



'NaJ-il^i» 



Fig. 51 



stages of this process.] When the eggs are exposed to the 

 air in time, segmentation can begin again; but if a slightly 

 longer time is allowed to elapse, the process becomes irre- 

 versible and life becomes extinct. Such clear structural 

 changes cannot often be observed in the eggs of other 

 animals under the same conditions. Are these changes of 

 structure (apparently liquefaction of solid elements) respon- 

 sible for death under such conditions? In order to obtain 

 an answer to this question, the writer investigated the 



