the dynamics of living matter

242 Pages·2013·5.37 MB·English

THE DYNAMICS OF LIVING
MATTER
IW
JACQUES LOEB
PROFESSOR OF l'HYSIOLOGY IN THb UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
NdD l!!ork
THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
THE MACMILLAN COMPAI\'Y. AGENTS
LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD,
AI/rigltts reS(!f't)ed
I!;;olumbia mLnib't.it~ llliological .sni,.
ED1TED BY
HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN
EDMUND B. WILSON
r. FROM THE GREEKS TO DARWIN
By Henry Fan'field Osborn
II. AMPHIOXUS AND THE ANCESTRY OF THE VERTEBRATES
By Arthur Willey
Ill. FISHES, LIViNG AND FOSSIL. An Introductory Study
By Bashford Dean
IV. THE CELL IN DEVELOPMENT AND INHERITANCE
By Edmund B Wilson
V. THE FOUNDATIONS OF ZOOLOGY
By W. K. Brooks
VI. THE PROTOZOA
By Gary N. Calkins
VII. REGENERATION
By T. H. Morgan
VlI1. THE: DYNAMICS OF LIVlNG MATTER
By Jacques Loeb
IX. STRUCTURE AND HABITS OF ANTS. Un preparation)
By W. M. Wheeler
X. BEHAV10R OF THE LOWER ORGANISMS. (II! preparation)
By H. S. Jennings
COPYRIGHT, 1906,
By THE MAC)ULLAN COMPANY.
06
Set up and electrotyped. Published MaTch, 19 .
NorlDo(lb~rtft
J. B. Cushing 6.. Co._Herwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.B.A.
~n
ANNE LEONARD LOEB
PREFACE
THIS book owes its origin to a series of eight lectures delivered
upon the invitation of Professor E. B. Wilson and Professor H. F.
Osborn at Columbia University in the spring of 1902. The aim of
the lectures was to give a presentation of my researches on the
dynamics of living matter and the views to which they had led me.
In preparing the book I have tried to give a somewhat more com-
plete survey of the field of experimental biology than was possible
in the lectures, without, however, trying to alter their character. In
the introductory lecture use was made of my address at the Inter-
national Congress at St. Louis.
To Dr. S. S. Maxwell, who has undertaken the main burden of
reading tbe proof and preparing the index, and to Professor J. B.
MacCallum, who also assisted me in the reading of the proof, my
sincere thanks are due.
BERKELEY. CALIFORNIA,
January I, 1906.
"ii
CONTENTS
LECTURE I
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS •
LEcrVRE II
CONCERNING THE GENERAL CHEMISTRY OF LIFE PHENOMENA
I. Historical Remarks
2. Reversible Enzyme < Action - Lipase -Action - Reversible Enzyme Action in the
Carbohydrate Group - The General Occurrence of Protein-splitting Enzymes
3. Respiration as a Catalytic Process • 13
(a) The Oxidases • 13
Cob) Further Remarks on the Significance of Oxygen in Life Phenomena. 16
(c) Death in Lack of Oxygen and the Protective Action of Oxygen 18
(d) Changes of Structure in Lack of O"ygen 19
4. The Production of C02 through Enzymes
5. Concerning the Theory of Enzyme Action 24
(a) Stereochemical Attempt!; . 24
(0) The Theory of Intermediary Reactions 26
LECfVRE III
THE GENERAL PHYSICAL CoNSTITUTION OF LIVING MA'ITER
I. The Limits of Divisibility of Living Matter 29
2. Foam Structures and Emulsions 31
3. The Colloidal Character of Living Matter 33
4. The Formation of Surface Films and Traube's Membranes of Precipitation-
Overton's and Meyer's Work on Narcotics and the Nature of Surface Films. 38
5. Osmotic. Pressure and the Exchange of Liquids hetween the Cells and the Sur~
rounding Liquid . 41
6. Further Limitations of Traube's Theoty of Semipenneability . 45
7. The Antagonistic Effects of Salts 46
LECfVRE lV
ON SOME PHYsICAL MANIFEsTATIONS OF LIFE
1. Hypotheses of Muscular Contraction 53
2. Quincke's Theory of Protoplasmic Motion 55
3. Concerning tbe Theory of Cell Division. 58
4- The Origin of Radiant Energy in Living Organisms 66
5. Electrical Phenomena ill Livjng Organisms 68
;x
x CONTENTS
LECTURE V
THE R6cE OF ELECTROLYTES IN THE FORMATION ANI) PRESERVATION OF
L1VING MATTER
1. On the Specific Difference between the Nutritive Solutions for Plants and Animals
-l)rotective Solutions and Nutrient Solutions 71
2. Concerning a Theory of Irritability and the Role of Na, K, and Ca for Animal Ufe
- Rhythmkal Contractions in Skeletal Muscle, in Medusa:, and the Ven-
tricle of the Heart - Contact Irritability in Muscle - Analogies to the Role
of Salts in Coagulation of Milk-Significance for the Understanding of
Functional Nervous Diseases - The Action of Purgatives 78
3. The Reaction of Living Matter and the Role of Bicarbonates in the Preservation
~~. ~
4. Electrical Stimulation 98
LECTURE VI
THE EFFECTS OF HEAT AND RADIANT ENERGY UPON LIVING MAITER
I. Effects of Heat-Upper Temperature Limit of Life-Influence of Reaction-
velocity upon Biological Processes - M:>wer Temperature Limit - Other
Biolugical Effects of Heat 106
2. General Effects of Radiant Energy upon Living Matter- Oxemical Action of Light
upon Organisms . lIZ
LECTURE VII
HELIOTROPISM
l. The Heliotropism of Sessile Organisms. JI7
2. Heliotropism of Free-moving Animals . 124
3. The Control of the Precision and Sense of Heliotropic Reactions in Animals. 130
4. The Reaction of Animals to Sudden Changes in the Intensity of Light 135
LECTURE VIII
FuRTHER FACTS CONCERNING TROPISMS AND RELATED PHENOMENA.
I. General Theory of Tropisms .
2. Galvanotropism
3. Geotropism
4. Chemotropism and Related Phenomena ,
5. Stereotropism .
6. Concluding Remarks concerning Tropismlike Reactions.
LECTURE IX
FERTILIZATION
I. The SpecifiC Chara-eter of the Fertilizing Power of the SpennatozoGn-Hybrid
Fertil~. 161
2. Artificial Parthenogenesis and the Theory of Fertilization 164
CONTENTS xi
LECTURE X
HEREDITY
I. The Hereditary Effects of the Spermatozoon and Egg-The Prevailing Influence
of the Egg in the Early Stages of Development - Merogony-Toxicity of
the Blood of Forms not closely Related-Mendel's Experiments. 179
2. The Determination of Sex and the Secondary Sexual Characters 186
3. Egg Structure and Heredity . 191
LECTURE XI
ON THE DYNAMICS OF REGENERATIVE PROCESSlts
I. Sachs's Hypothesis of the Formation of Organs 199
2. Heteromorphosis and Regeneration in Tubularia • 201
3. Regeneration i.n an Actinian (Cerialtthus memhranactw) 207
4. Regeneration and Heteromorphosis in Planarians . 210
5. On the Influence of the Central Nervous System upon Regeneration and on Phe-
nomena of Correlation in Regeneration. 213
6. The Effect of Some External Conditions upon Regeneration and the Transforma~
tion of Organs 217
7. The Role of Re'lersible }>rocesses in Phenomena of Regeneration - The Distribu·
t10D of the Power of Regeneration in the Animal Kingdom • 218
LECTURE XII
CONCLUDING REMARKS 223
INDEX
LECTURE I
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
IN these lectures we shall consider living organisms as chemical
machines, consisting essentially of colloidal material, which possess the
peculiarities of automatically developing, preserving, and reproducing
themselves. The fact that the machines which can be created by man
do not possess the power of automatic development, self-preservation,
and reproduction constitutes for the present a fundamental difference
between living machines and artificial machines. We must, however,
admit that nothing contradicts the possibility that the artificial produc-
tion of living matter may one day be accomplished. It is the purpose
of these lectures to state to what extent we are able to control the phe-
nomena of development, self-preservation, and reproduction.
Living organisms may be called chemical machines, inasmuch as
the energy for their work and functions is derived from chemical pro-
cesses, and inasmuch as the material from which the living machines
are built must be formed through chemical processes. It is therefore
only natural that the dynamics of living matter should begin with an
analysis of the specific character of the chemical processes in organisms.
It is neither our intention nor is it possible for us to give an exhaustive
analysis, and we shall only go far enough to satisfy ourselves that no
variables are found in the chemical dynamics of living malter which
cannot be found also in the chemistry of inanimate nature.
The material of which living organisms consist is essentially col-
loidal in its character. Graham introduced the discrimination between
colloidal and crystalloidal substances: the latter diffuse easily, the former
only wtth difficulty, or not at all, through animal membranes. The
colloidal substances may be in solution or fine suspension, or they may
appear in a jellylike or coagulated or precipitated form. In the former
case where they are liquid we speak of sols, in the latter of gels. The
structures which we find in living matter originate mostly through a
gelation or coagulation of liquid colloids. We shall see in these lectures
that liquefactions and gelations or coagulations may possibly play a
great TIlle in various physical manifestations of life; but as the physics
of colloids.is still in its beginning, we must not be surprised that it is as
yet impossible to carry its application to life phenomena very far.