Note on the Action of Strychnine upon some 
Somatic Cells. 
BY 
HELEN P. KEMP, 
Royal College of Science, London. 
HE question of the nature of the alkaloids and of their action upon 
JL the living cell is one bearing closely upon that of absorption in 
general. Recognition of the fundamental character of the latter process, as 
a biological phenomenon of the first importance, has led to a considerable 
activity in this particular field of investigation ; marked by the appearance, 
during the last three decades, of various accounts of the action of certain of 
the alkaloids upon different types of cell. There has been, however, so 
little co-ordination of work that not only is the advance made along this 
line relatively small, but the results also in some cases are ambiguous. The 
ambiguity appears to be largely due to the fact that similar methods have 
been used and similar phenomena studied with different ends in view, and 
cross-references made without a sufficient indication of the dissimilarity of 
the latter. 
In 1887 Oscar and Richard Hertwig ( 3 ) published the results of 
a series of experiments on the action upon Echinoderm eggs of certain 
alkaloidal poisons, among others quinine, chloral, nicotine, and strychnine. 
They immersed the eggs in solutions of varied strength (0-005 %- 0>I %) and 
for varied lengths of time (10 mins-3 hrs.) and then placed them in sea-water 
containing spermatozoa. As an indicator of the action of the various 
alkaloids, and as a standard of comparison between them, they chose the 
condition of polyspermy in the egg, this being dependent upon a modifica¬ 
tion of the latter under the influence of the poisons, by which it is rendered 
permeable to more than one spermatozoon. They used eggs at three 
distinct physiological stages of development, (1) non-maturated, (2) matur¬ 
ated but unfertilized, (3) fertilized ; and obtained differences of result 
according to the stage chosen. Thus class (1) was found to be extremely 
sensitive to the modification indicated by polyspermy, such eggs after 
treatment with the poison being filled with spermatozoa, class (2) to be less 
sensitive, and class (3) almost impervious, the eggs developing, as far as 
could be seen, normally up to the pluteus stage, subsequent to their 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XXV. No. C. October, iqii.] 
4 A 
