The Change in Reaction of Dying Tissue. 27 



56 0 C. and in others by adding disinfectants, and in each case 

 allowed to incubate at 37 0 C. for 6 days. Sterilized thus by heat, 

 by phenol and by gentian violet there is no evidence of toxin 

 production. Experiments to test more thoroughly these various 

 hypotheses are being planned. Details will be published in full 

 elsewhere. 



15 (1762) 



The change in reaction of dying tissue. 



By WITHROW MORSE and H. C. VAN DER HEYDE. 



[From the Department of Physiological Chemistry, 

 School of Medicine, Morgantown, W. Va.] 



In the studies of tissue enzyme action which the senior writer 

 has been making since 1910, there has always been the question of 

 the stages immediately following the death of the tissue and also 

 of the conditions of reaction of medium, which have been shown 

 to regulate the character of the process, that is, the rate and 

 equilibrium. An attempt was made by Strauss and Morse 1 to 

 determine the reaction of medium in the kidney during hematog- 

 enous infarction brought on by ligation of the blood vessels and 

 at the same time to determine whether autolysis proceeded or 

 not. The former collaborator (D. C. S.) being called for service 

 rendered it impossible to complete this series of studies. Earlier 

 still 2 the S0rensen colorimetric method was employed in similar 

 work, but the obvious difficulty of the time element involved in the 

 dialysis inhibited very critical conclusions. Recently, Dernby 3 

 applied the S0rensen solutions with the Clark-Lubs indicators to 

 the study of the problem, but the critical point regarding the 

 inception of autolysis and the state of reaction of medium in the 

 earliest stages was not investigated. In his third paper in the 

 "Studies of Autolysis" 4 Bradley and collaborator found "soon 



1 Strauss, D. C, and Morse, M. W., 1917, Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol, and Med. 

 1917, xiv, 171. 



2 Morse, M., J. Biol. Chem., 1916, xxiv, 163. 



3 Dernby, K. G., /. Biol. Chem., 1918, xxxv, 179. 



4 Bradley, H. C., and Taylor, J., /. Biol. Chem., 1916, xxv, 261. 



