358 Death and Dissolution of the Organism 



beat is supplied solely by hydrolytic processes; but there 

 is certainly no change in the physical structure of the cells 

 noticeable in Fundulus, and consequently there is no sudden 

 standstill of the heart. 



Budgett' has observed that in many infusorians visible 

 changes of structure occur in the case of lack of oxygen 1 ; 

 as a rule the membrane of the infusorian bursts or breaks 

 at one point, whereby the liquid contents flow out. Har- 

 desty and the writer found that Paramcecium becomes more 

 strongly vacuolized when deprived of oxygen, and at last 

 bursts. Amcebas likewise become vacuolized and burst 

 under these conditions. Budgett found that a number of 

 poisons, such as potassium cyanide, morphine, quinine, 

 antipyrine, nicotine, and atropine, produce structural 

 changes of the same character as those described for lack 

 of oxygen. As far as KCN is concerned, Schoenbein had 

 already observed that it retards the oxidation in the tissues, 

 and Claude Bernard and Geppert confirmed this observa- 

 tion. For the alkaloids, W. S. Young has shown that they 

 are capable of retarding certain processes of autoxidation. 

 This accounts for the fact that the above-mentioned poisons 

 produce changes similar to those observed in the case of lack 

 of oxygen. 2 



The phenomenon of rapid disintegration when de- 

 prived of oxygen (or in the presence of KCN) seems to 

 be general as Child 3 has shown in extensive experiments. 

 Child has used it to show that younger animals disin- 

 tegrate more rapidly than older or larger ones, and he 

 uses this fact for a theory of senescence. He connects 



1 Budgett, S. P., Am. Jour. Physiol., 1898, L, 210.'' 

 * Loeb, J., The Dynamics of Living Matter, New York, 1906, pp. 

 19-21. 



3 Child, C. M., Senescence and Rejuvenescence. Chicago, 1915. 



