THE CHEMISTRY OF MEDUS2E 



123 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 22a 



the water of the sea contained respectively, chlorine percentages as follow: 1-8105, 

 1 -931 and 2 -.0945. Other medusae, from the same sources, Krukenberg found to con- 

 tain chlorine greater in amount than in the surrounding sea-water, and he stated that 

 in medusse from waters o'f low salinity, their salinity was relatively much higher than 

 in medusae from sea-water of high salinity. He also found that a piece of jelly (in 

 sea-water of 2 -1868 per cent of chlorine) gave a fluid containing 2 -334 per cent of 

 chlorine; while, when the sea-water contained 2*272 per cent, the jelly fluid showed 

 1 -345 per cent of chlorine — a most remarkable result, due to diffusion laws. Whether 

 the loss of water, however, was owing to exudation or to mechanical processes, Kru- 

 kenberg could not decide. In distilled water pieces yielded, he found, 4-93 and 4 '13 

 per cent of chlorine, and in a medium containing magnesium sulphate only, the loss 

 ( f salts decreased with the increase in the strength of the sulphate. A 6 per cent 

 solution showed 4 '33 per cent in the fluid given off, while in a 10 per cent solution it 

 was 4 '34 per cent ; but in a 20 per cent solution the chlorine in the fluid was 3 '229 

 and 3 '666. With solid magnesium sulphate placed on the fragment of jelly, the fluid 

 given off contained from 1 '292 to 1 '596 per cent of chlorine. 



For the purposes of the St. Andrew's investigation it was necessary to have ample 

 material to enable adequate analyses to be made. Hence a juice was prepared from 

 living specimens of jelly-fish. The specimens were suspended in muslin bags in the 

 station laboratory, for about ten minutes, so that the sea-water on the outside, and in 

 the gastro-vascular canals internally, could drip away. 



After this draining the specimens of Aurelia were subjected to a mincing process 

 by hand, and the fine minced jelly was, after a second straining, kneaded thoroughly 

 until liquified. The strained fluid, mixed with the kneaded material, presented a turbid 

 appearance until the cellular elements settled, when the liquid was opalescent. Crystals 

 of fhymol were used for preserving samples, or else 2 cc. of formalin to 1000 cc. of the 

 fluid. This fluid was stored in phials^liaving tight-fitting glass stoppers. 



As the canals in Cyanea arctica continue into the long dependent filaments, more 

 time was necessary for the draining process in that species; but even after the lapse 

 of an hour some sea-water still remained. There was in consequence of longer suspen- 

 sion some loss of organic material. 



The specimens of Cyanea were then allowed to liquify spontaneously, after being 

 broken up, and in the course of twenty-four hours a brownish red liquid resulted, in 

 which the ropy tentacles remained undissolved. This was preserved by adding 2 or 

 3 cc. of formalin to 1000 cc. of the fluid. Preservation was satisfactory, but a pre- 

 cipitate settled in the Aurelia fluid, consisting largely of magnesium hydrate in union 

 with some proteid matter. The medusa fluid or juice was subjected to elaborate 

 analysis by Professor Macallum in the physiological laboratories of the University of 

 Toronto, and the details require, of course, to be studied in the original paper, but the 

 main results may here be summarized: — 



(a) The sulphuric acid is much below that of the surrounding sea-water, absolutely 

 and relatively. 



(h) The magnesium is less than in sea-water, in Cyanea as much as 10 per cent 



less. 



(c) The lime is the same as in sea-water at St. Andrew's and Canso in the cas'e 

 of Aurelia; but in Cyanea it is greater. 



(d) The potassium shows the greatest disparity, being in Aurelia 40 per cent in 

 excess of the amount in the sea-water and in Cyanea 100 per cent greater. 



The selective action of the living cells forming the exterior covering and the in- 

 ternal (gastro-vascular) lining, is responsible, there can be no doubt, for the relatively 

 large amount of potash salts taken in, and the ratio of the proteid nitrogen and phos- 

 phorus in one as compared with the other, viz., 1 :2 -5 is corroborative. The slight 

 decrease in the sodium may be due to its replacement by potassium. The difference 

 of the aqueous environment at St. Andrew's and at Canso explains the difference in 

 the analyses of the specimens of Aurelia from the two places. Their subjection every 



