1072 
Kemp—Note on the Action of 
and the results are consequently incomplete, but their publication in that 
state seems justified by the fact that, as far as they go, they are of a nature 
sufficiently definite to afford a basis for possible further advance. Roots of 
Pea and Bean seedlings were chosen for experiment as affording a readily 
procurable supply of young tissue in a state of activity. Incidentally the 
use of somatic instead of reproductive tissue has this advantage—that it 
precludes any possible confusion between the spindle formation of the two 
rapidly successive polar-body divisions of the unmaturated egg-cell, and the 
spindles of irregular shape said to arise under the influence of the poisons. 
The seedlings were grown and manipulated during experiment in the 
following way. They were started in sawdust, and on their roots attaining 
a length of some inches were placed with the tips of the tap-roots in the 
poison ; on removal from the latter they were replanted in sawdust, after 
washing. Several series of experiments were worked out. In the first two 
or three strychnine hydrochloride, but subsequently also the sulphate, was 
used, in various percentages and for various lengths of time (o-oooi %, o-ooi %, 
o*oi %, o-i %, 0*25 %, and 0*5 % for 10, 15, 20 mins., half an hour, and 1 hour). 
Fixation of the roots, either directly after treatment with strychnine or at 
different points of further growth, failed to reveal any of the abnormal 
mitoses in question. The only visible effect of the strychnine was a shrinkage 
in the cytoplasm of the outer cell-rows, varying roughly in amount with the 
strength of the solution used, and an apparent slight increase of karyokinetic 
activity in the more central layers of the tissue, the latter point, however, being 
difficult of exact proof. The mitoses were normal in appearance, with strongly 
marked achromatic fibres and clearly divided groups of chromosomes. 
It seemed possible from these results that the poison either had not 
entered the roots at all, or had not penetrated beyond the outer layers of 
cells, and on the indication of Loeb’s (6) work with alkalies upon eggs, and of 
Overton’s ( 9 ) observations on narcosis in tadpoles, a modification was made 
in the experiments, and the solutions of strychnine rendered slightly alkaline 
with sodium carbonate or hydrate. In an alkaline solution, however, some 
of the strychnine base was thrown down, and it was doubtful what percentage 
of it remained in solution. Microscopical examination showed also no 
features essentially different from those seen in the earlier experiments, but 
a more severe shrinkage of the cytoplasm, a condition seen also in the control 
experiments with tap water containing- the same proportions of the alkali as 
. . . N N N ... 
were used in the strychnine solutions. 1. e. —, —, and —. A wide 
10 20 40 
range of percentages and of periods of immersion was used (o-ooi, o*oi, 
0*1,0*25, and 0*5 % of strychnine, in solutions of sodium carbonate or hydrate 
N N N 
from —, — to —, for 10, 15, 20 mins., half an hour, 1 hour), but no 
10 20 40 u /} 
result was obtained beyond distortion of the nuclei and shrinkage of the 
