2 92 Seifriz. — Observations on some Physical Properties of 
There is another method of attack on this problem, namely, by water 
injection. It is this method which probably gives Chambers his chief 
evidence of the miscibility of protoplasm. He ( 9 , p. 2) says, ‘ If a drop of 
water be injected slowly and gradually into the egg by means of the 
mercury injection method, the water diffuses throughout the cytoplasm, 
diluting it \ Thus also will a blotter or sponge take up water if it is slowly 
fed to it. Injected sea-water is, however, not always taken up by the 
protoplasm. Frequently a droplet of water is held in the ovum for some 
time. The only miscibility of protoplasm which results is the dilution of 
a small amount of disorganized protoplasm injured by the injection. 
Chambers ( 9 , p. 12) attributes the formation of a water droplet to 
‘ mechanical compression caused by the force of the injection ’, which 
produces ‘ a coagulation film about the injected droplet to form a vacuole \ 
There would thus obtain a condition identical with that of the surface 
protoplasm of myxomycetes or Amoeba. The membrane of the protoplasm 
surrounding such an injected water droplet exhibits osmotic properties 
similar to those of the exterior plasma-membrane, as shown by the experi- 
ments of Kite ( 22 , p. 4), who says, ‘ A small dose of distilled water is taken 
up by the surrounding cytoplasm of the starfish egg quite slowly. A 
vacuole of sea-water requires a somewhat longer time to disappear, while 
a vacuole filled with hypertonic sea-water increases in size.’ 
Injection of water does not always result in the formation of a water 
vacuole. If the quantity injected be sufficiently great, most of the proto- 
plasm goes into solution, i. e. is truly miscible. Some of the egg contents 
may remain undiluted. What have we as a result of such a dilution ? It 
requires but a glance or a tear with a needle to demonstrate the degenerate 
state of the protoplasm. Normal living protoplasm as such no longer 
exists. 
Dead protoplasm is frequently water- miscible. The degenerate 
coagulum usually disintegrates, sometimes slowly and sometimes with 
great rapidity, though it may persist in water for hours. The rate of 
diffusion may even vary in different regions of the same protoplasmic mass 
( 37 , p.316). 
Miscibility apparently results from a break-down of organization. 
Excessive imbibition and consequent swelling of a Fucus ovum before 
diffusion of the egg contents suggests this. With a break-down of organiza- 
tion, which may be nothing more than a collapse of colloidal structure, the 
protoplasm is no longer able to resist imbibition pressure, and diffusion 
results. 
Two main factors, then, seem to be responsible for the miscibility of 
protoplasm, namely, disorganization (in by far the greater number of cases) 
and extreme liquidity (in some few instances). 
A very interesting instance of protoplasm seemingly ‘ attempting ’ to 
