Artificial parthenogenesis and fertilization / by Jacques Loeb... Originally tr. from the German by W. O. Redman King... supplemented and revised by the author.

  • Loeb, Jacques, 1859-1924.
Date:
[1913]
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Artificial parthenogenesis and fertilization / by Jacques Loeb... Originally tr. from the German by W. O. Redman King... supplemented and revised by the author. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    oxygen or if the oxidations in the egg are retarded through the presence of KCN (see chap. x). This difficulty is, however, not real, if we assume that the corrective effect of the hypertonic Solution consists in the production of a substance or a condition in the egg which eures it from the threatening disintegration or in the destruction of a substance or a condition which causes this disintegration. Such effects might be produced by a slight modification of the character of the processes of oxidation without its being necessary that the rate of oxidation be altered. TABLE XIII Fertilized Eggs in Duration of Experiment Oxygen Consumption Exp I. Normal sea-water 60 min. 60 60 60 60 60 1.30 mg. 1.27 1.33 1.53 1.33 1.57 50 c.c. sea-water-(-4 c.c. 2^ m (NaCl-f- KCl-HCaCh) Exp. II. Normal sea-water 50 c.c. sea-water-h 12 c.c. 2^ m (NaCl + KCH-CaCh) Exp III. Normal sea-water 50 c.c. sea-water-f-16 c.c. 2| m (NaCl-f KCl+CaCh) Meyerhof raised the objection that the ratio between the con- sumption of oxygen and the production of heat was the same in eggs in hypertonic Solutions as in normal sea-water. But I do not think that this objection speaks against my hypothesis, since it is only necessary that the hypertonic solution lead to the formation of a by-product in a very minute quantity, while this by-product is not formed when the eggs develop in normal sea- water. Such a slight qualitative modification of the oxidations could very well exist without resulting in a noticeable alteration of the ratio between oxidations and heat production in the egg. It is also possible that the effects of the products of oxidation are different in hypertonic and normal sea-water, and that this determines the corrective effect of the hypertonic solution. Such an assumption would also enable us to understand why the withdrawal of oxygen for a longer period of time, namely,