106 Scientific Proceedings (43). 
B. Acetanilid, antipyrin, phenacetin, picric acid, picrotoxin, 
pyramidon, salicylic acid. 
Experiments with other solvents, and with additional sub- 
stances of alkaloidal type, will be added to this series. 
64 (589) 
Notes on Fischer's theory of the influence of acids in the pro- 
duction of edema.* 
By F. G. GOODRIDGE and WILLIAM J. GIES. 
[From the Laboratory of Biological Chemistry, of Columbia Uni- 
versity, at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York.] 
Several years ago Gies published some of the results of a pre- 
liminary study of the effects of acids on tendon collagen. 2 Last 
December Kantor and Gies reported their observation that 
collagen fibers from tendon immediately swell markedly in free 
acid but do not swell at all in any strength of combined acid 3 — 
facts on which they base a new microscopic test for free acid. 
These results naturally led Kantor and Gies to consider the relation 
of such facts to Fischer's theory of edema, which they were investi- 
gating at the time these observations were made. Lately we have 
gone into this particular phase of the matter with some experi- 
ments on fibrin. Similar experiments are under way with other 
colloids and with various tissues. 
Fischer's general conclusion in regard to edema is stated in the 
following terms: 4 
"A state of oedema is induced whenever, in the presence of an adequate supply 
of water, the affinity of the colloids of the tissues for water in increased above that 
which we are pleased to call norma l. The accumulation of acids within the tissues, 
1 This study is one of a projected series on proteins and their combining qualities. 
which in turn constitutes a section of a comprehensive plan of research on the compo- 
sition of protoplasm as well as the structural and dynamic relationships of cell con- 
stituents and products. These investigations are now in progress in the Laboratory 
of Biological Chemistry of Columbia University, at the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, and under the auspices of the George Crocker Special Research Fund. 
2 Gies, Science, 1907, xxv, p. 462. 
3 Kantor and Gies, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 191 1, ix; Proceedings of the 
American Society of Biological Chemists, p. xvii. 
4 Fischer, "Edema — a study of the physiology and the pathology of water ab- 
sorption by the living organism," 1909, p. 99. 
