and Bio-electrical Phenomena. 
677 
Macdonald it seems doubtful whether her statement cited above is justified, 
as well as the following ones : ‘ On the biological side Beutner lays himself 
open to serious criticism.’ ‘ In his theory of the current of injury . . . 
Beutner assumes a simplicity and uniformity of structure of the living 
organism to which no physiologist can give countenance.’ As a matter of 
fact the experiments of the author on the current of injury in plants point 
to a more complicated structure than assumed by any of the former theories, 
since the possibility of an asymmetry of the membranous constituents, giving 
rise to an electromotive force, had never been suggested before. The 
assertion of Dr. Haynes that the author ‘ postulates for the fruit a homo¬ 
geneous flesh * is entirely unfounded and contradicted by the experiments 
described on pp. 140—3 of the book of the author. 
It must be stated, finally, that Dr. Haynes even denies the existence of 
statements which are manifestly to be found in the book of the author. 
Concerning the higher content of fatty acid in the outer skin she declares 
‘ that he [the present author] does not state whence his information is de¬ 
rived ’. Although the author is doubtful whether his arguments would 
carry conviction to Dr. Haynes, yet he begs to say that the source of his 
information is his own book, where one full page (p. 145) and a table are 
devoted to explaining that the above statement is derived from the greater 
electromotive effect of the salt content on the outer skin. 
a positivizing affect on the muscle, which proves that the effect of the salt content is a general 
phenomenon. None of these investigators, however, thought of establishing quantitative relations 
between salt content and electromotive force. This was first done by Macdonald. 
