OF VITAL PHENOMENA 171 



mously increased oxidation. This view is supported by the fact 

 that Warburg found the oxidation of unfertilized eggs burst in 

 distilled water to be temporarily increased. They may 'be caused 

 to develop by a short treatment with distilled water or longer 

 treatment with hypotonic solution. After the egg is ground with 

 sand the oxidation falls to the same level as a fertilized egg 

 ground with sand, and in neither case is C0 2 given out. The 

 C0 2 output of the unfertilized egg is totally changed (abolished) 

 by grinding and the fact that the 2 absorption is the same at 

 a certain time after grinding may be a mere coincidence. 



Warburg and Wiesel (1912) have attempted to show the simi- 

 larity between the oxidizing power of cells and enzyme action, 

 in the reduction of oxidation and fermentation of yeast to the 

 same degree by anesthetics. The activity of the zymase in yeast 

 press juice is but a small fraction of the activity of the yeast, 

 but the oxidation has been reduced to nil. There is a slight 

 oxidation in the filtered liver press juice, however, and this may 

 be compared to the zymase in yeast juice. The significance of 

 cell structure, however, is shown by the fact that the oxidation 

 of various cells is reduced to about one-third by killing the 

 acetone, which leaves part of the structure intact. 



The results of Batelli and Stern (1914) also indicate a rela- 

 tion between cell structure and oxidation, but they probably in- 

 terpret it differently. They divide respiration into chief or rapid 

 and accessory or lasting respiration. This accessory respiration 

 seems to be due to cell fragments, dead cells, cell granules (and 

 bacteria?) and only a small percentage of cell juice proper. They 

 also studied the oxidizing power of ground tissues on various 

 substances and conclude that the citric acid oxidase ("oxidone") 

 is destroyed with cell structure, but the others are not. They 

 attempted to get more oxidases in the extract by grinding the 

 tissue finer, using a Borrel mill with revolving knives, but this 

 treatment merely reduced the oxidation of the cell fragments, 

 without increasing the oxidation of the extract. 



Warburg observed that the oxidations that take place in cell 

 extracts may be reduced by anesthetics, but the concentration 

 of anesthetic required is many times that required to reduce the 

 oxidation of the intact cell a corresponding amount. He ex- 

 plained this as due to the fact that the oxidase in the cell is ad- 



