PHYSIOLOGY: A. G. MAYER 
39 
Thus the curves representing the rate of nerve-conduction in sea-water 
diluted with alkaline distilled water gradually approach and finally be- 
come identical with FreundHch's formula for absorption y^^ax^^^ when 
the distilled water becomes nearly neutral. In this case ^^ = 2.512 and 
l//^ = 0.8. The data are shown in detail in Table 1 and Figure 2 at the 
end of this paper. 
Mecklenburg, in Tables Annuelles Internationelles de Constants et 
donnees numerique, 3, 418 (1914), gives a list of 16 cases of adsorption in 
which a ranges from 0.0824 to 23.5 being 
usually between 2 and 3, while the exponent 
1/n ranges from 0.167 to 0.965 being usually 
from 0,2 to 0.6. Hence 0.8 is high, but not 
beyond the range of the exponent in ob- 
served cases of adsorption. 
Thus we venture to suggest that adsorp- 
tion may play a fundamental role in nerve 
conduction, and that the only cations which 
are necessary to the reaction are the ad- 
sorbed sodium, calcium, and potassium ions, 
the rate of nerve conduction being propor- 
tional to the concentration of these adsorbed 
ions. 
Hydroxyl and hydrogen ions are not ad- 
sorbed but act independently serving as ac- 
celerators of nerve conduction when in weak 
concentration and as depressants if concen- 
trated to a greater degree. 
A series of diagrams may serve to illus- 
trate this hypothesis. Thus in Figure 1 the 
nerve is represented by a row of negative 
charged colloidal particles, for the colloid 
being normally alkaline the charge may be 
assumed to be negative.^ Line No. 1 shows 
the nerve in its resting stage wherein the 
negative charge of each colloidal particle tends to be partially neu- 
tralized by the adsorbed cations of sodium, calcium, and potassium 
shown by -h + +. The number of cations which each colloidal par- 
ticle can capture and temporarily de-ionize^ depends upon the potential 
of its negative charge, and also upon the concentration of the cations 
in the surrounding fluid. For the sake of illustration we have shown 
three such cations attracted to the surface of each particle, but in reality 
the number must be greater than this. 
/p. 
B ^ 
" c 
D 
ABC (p^-^ 
E 
A B C D /gj) 
enlarged V-/ particle* 
FIG. 1 
