Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication Volume 251 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917 Excerpt: ...to a parchmentpaper sea-water dialysate of the juice, so that light-production is undoubtedly connected with the visible globules and granules of the juice. That it is connected with the solution of the granules is indicated by the fact that fresh-water but not salt-water or isotonic canesugar is able to call forth the production of light. The process appears to be similar to the cytolysis of cells, as can be observed by an inspection of table 8, which shows the effect of adding various substances to the dark juice of Cavernularia. The light-giving granules of Cavernularia will pass through an alundum filter crucible (R A 84) of the finest pores, but not through a Pasteur-Chamberland filter-tube. The liquid passing through the latter is perfectly clear and non-luminous and gives no fight when water is added. There is no adsorption of the light-producing substance by boneblack or Fe(OH)8. ELECTRICAL STIMULATION. The juice of Cavernularia filtered through filter paper does not respond to the strongest interrupted induced shocks. The living colony, however, responds readily. When a galvanic current is passed through one of the excised polyps mounted between non-polarizable electrodes, a flash of light occurs on the make and a series of flashes while the current is passing, which cease on the break. There is no flash of light on the break. A similar response can be observed with Noctiluca (2). It will be remembered that Romanes (25) observed a series of contractions in the bell of a medusa during the passage of a galvanic current, and the sartorius muscle of the frog often contracts on the make of a galvanic current, remains contracted during the passage of the current, and relaxes on the break. If the whole colony be stimulated by weak induced shocks, there is...