Electrobiology

“ In the simplest plants, consisting of a single cell, no differentiation of the parts can be perceived. Food is taken in on all sides alike, and is worked up in the whole plasma of the cell and applied to the growth of the cell-body, to the multiplication of cells by division, or is stored up as reserve food. This is possible because the cell either lives continuously in a uniform element, water, or, if it dries up, simply suspends its life while the dryness continues. ”

“ Electric charges accumulate at the surface of any charged body. Hence, the surface layers in any colloidal system carry its electric charges in highest concentration, and all of the chemical changes which are stimulated by electrical phenomena are most strongly influenced at the surface boundaries between the different phases of the system. This latter consideration affords a satisfactory explanation of the well-known depressing, or stimulating, action of electrolytes, especially acids and bases, upon the enzymic catalysis of protoplasmic reactions. ”

“ As to the metabolism within the cell, no more is known than is the case with other cells, nor even as much. The materials used for growth and as sources of energy are taken into the cell, built up into various compounds some of which have been enumerated and in part broken down again. Carbon dioxide and water are formed in the latter process. ”

“ The idea of an entirely specific structure for each cell of an organ—both from the chemical and physical points of view—is based not only on the supposition that, without such a notion, the special duties and functions of the separate cells of the body would appear incomprehensible, but, above all, on the above-mentioned fact that definite secretions given off by particular organs act constantly and only upon cells of a definite system. ”

“ To teach that life originates in a germ leads to an analysis that shows the germ is a compound form itself, and one of the stages of incipient life. The advocate of the cell as the primitive source of life soon discovers that the cell is the result of chemical forces that have not yet arrived at the germ state, and that both the germ and the cell are but successive stages of life development, and we must go further back into the realm of the invisible electro-magnetic forces for the true source of physical life. ”

“ The differentiation of nucleus and protoplasm in the living substance of the cell alone gives rise to an extraordinary complication in the metabolic process, for these two parts of the cell stand in the most complicated correlation with Cell-Processes the Secret of Life. one another as well as with the environing medium—a fact of which the experiments made by vivisection in various free-living cell-forms have furnished abundant evidence. The farther such knowledge advances, the more rounded, clear and free from hypotheses will become our conception of the cell's metabolism. ”

“ The Bacteria stand sharply apart from the other forms of life, not only, in many cases, by their divergent methods of metabolism, but by morphological characteristics, such as the definite body-form limited by a distinct envelope, the absence of organs for locomotion other than the peculiar flagella, and, above all, by the lack of any differentiation of the body-protoplasm into nucleus and cytoplasm, as in all true cells of either animal or vegetable nature. ”

“ It is possible to suggest a mechanico-physical explanation of multicellular structure which will deprive the cell of much of its assumed significance as a unit of organization. The fact that surface area becomes relatively less extensive as bulk increases would alone set a limit to the size of “unicellular” organisms; for not only is there a constant reaction between nucleus and cytoplasm through the nuclear membrane, but the surface of the cell serves both for the intake of food and the elimination of waste material. ”

“ All admit that the force of elements forms a part of the anatomic structure, and there must be electricity. When oxygen is taken into a body it excites the elements in the same manner as the negative chlorine attacks the zinc in the battery. The electrical circuit of the body is the circulating blood, and when the oxygen and the nitrogen are taken in through the lungs the electro-negative ions go in one direction. ”

“ Each separate cell of an organism would be in exactly the same state as a unicellular organism. Just as these have to make a selection from amongst the disharmonious substances by which they are continually bathed, so, too, would the cells of the body have to pick out the substances they need, according to the conditions presented. Not only would the work of the single cells be enormously increased, but also, without doubt, the mutual influence of different kinds of cells, by means of certain secretions, would be much hindered. ”

“ Here the protoplasm of the cells is endowed with the faculty of secreting over its surface a firm, resisting membrane, composed of cellulose, a substance destitute of nitrogen, thus totally different from the contained protoplasm, and incapable of manifesting any of the phenomena of life. ”

“ These artificial cells are sensible to most of the influences which affect living organisms. Like living cells they are influenced both in their organization and in their development by humidity, dryness, acidity, or alkalinity. They are also greatly affected by the addition of minute quantities of chemical substances either to the gelatinous blastema or to the drops which represent the primary nuclei. We may in this way obtain endless varieties, nuclei which are opaque or transparent, with or without a nucleolus, and cells containing homogeneous cytoplasm without a nucleus. ”

“ In addition to the limit thus imposed upon the cytoplasmic area which can be effectually controlled by the nucleus, and the necessity for a minimum surface area to the protoplasmic mass, the advantages of the more or less complete subdivision of the living substance into—as far as their metabolism is concerned—semi-autonomous units, is indicated by the mechanical support derived from the specialized cell walls and turgescent cells of the plant, and the intercellular secretions of the animal tissues. ”

“ On the other hand, the morphologist will urge that green plants derive their peculiar powers of metabolism from the possession of very definite cell-organs, namely chromatophores containing chlorophyll; and will argue that living things without such organs must have preceded in evolution those possessing them. The whole dispute is based on the assumption that plant and animal represent the two fundamental modes of metabolism; whereas the study of the Bacteria shows the possibility of many other modes of life. ”

“ As, moreover, the first thing which a cell does when it grows is to divide, the whole proceeding looks rather futile. But ready-made protoplasm of an assimilable shape is rare, and it is not often that a cell, unless it be a plant or a parasite, finds itself in a substance which can be handed straight to the nucleus without further elaboration. Usually the cell has to discharge from itself a reagent, which will develop the right chemical qualities in the matter it wants to absorb. This substance is known as an enzyme, or ferment. ”

“ One has been killed before the meal, and the rest are killed at intervals dividing the time which must intervene before their next feeding-time comes round. Series of sections from their organs are prepared, one from each animal being mounted in order upon the same piece of glass, dipped in the same reagents, and examined under the same microscope. From a number of these sections the progressive effects of a meal upon each of the several constituents of the cell are traced out, and some of the chemical processes deduced. ”

“ The conditions in the cell are widely different, and at the temperature of the cell and with such chemical materials as are at hand in the cell no such organic syntheses have been artificially carried out by the forms of energy extraneous to living tissue. ”

“ The cells of which all plants and animals consist increase in numbers by the division of [Pg 10] each cell into two cells through the formation of a division wall across the cell. The new cells divide and the plant or animal continues to grow. The same cell division occurs in the bacteria but since the bacteria are single celled, division of the cells means an increase in numbers rather than growth as in the higher forms of life. ”

“ How do you know that the previous existence of germs is necessary to the appearance and development of microscopic organisms? May not the prime mover of the life of microscopic organisms be some appropriate medium started into activity by magnetism, electricity, or even ozone? Now, by the passing of the air through your red-hot platinum tube these active powers are destroyed, and the sterility of your bulb of urine has nothing surprising in it. ”

“ We can therefore say that living things have two common properties: metabolism and reproduction. Therefore, when we say we are studying life processes, we actually are studying the metabolism and reproduction of cells. Since metabolism is the sum of 4 the biochemical reactions taking place in a living organism, it properly belongs to the field of investigation of biochemists. Cell reproduction is the concern of both biochemists and morphologists [3] since it can be studied by either biochemical or morphological techniques. ”

“ There are also some Protozoa, and the Bacteria, in which no nucleus has certainly been demonstrated. But it is usual to consider the bodies of such organisms as cells nevertheless, and it is supposed that such cells represent a stage of development in which the nucleus has not yet been evolved, though the chemical substance ‘nuclein’ has been formed in some of them. ”

“ In the first place, the extremely small size and isolation of the vegetative cells place the protoplasmic contents in peculiarly favourable circumstances for action, and we may safely conclude that, weight for weight and molecule for molecule, the protoplasm of bacteria is brought into contact with the environment at far more points and over a far larger surface than is that of higher organisms, whether—as in plants—it is distributed in thin layers round the sap-vacuoles, or—as in animals—is bathed in fluids brought by special mechanisms to irrigate it. ”

“ The statement has been made that "every active living cell is essentially an electric battery," and it is believed that every activity of living matter, such as the rhythmic contraction of the heart, the passage of a nerve impulse, etc., is accompanied by an electric disturbance in the protoplasm of the tissues in question. ”

“ The whole organization of any multicellular organism is composed of two entirely different kinds of cells—namely, the germ-cells, or those which have to do with reproduction, and the somatic-cells, or those which go to constitute all the other parts of the organism. Now, the somatic-cells, in their aggregations as tissues and organs, may be modified in numberless ways by the direct action of the environment, as well as by special habits formed during the individual lifetime of the organism. ”

“ The second and higher stage is the cell, which is already divided or differentiated into nuclear matter and cellular matter. We comprise both kinds—the cytodes and the cells—under the name of plastids (“formative particles”) , because they are the real builders of the organism. However, these cytodes are not found, as a rule, in the higher animals and plants; here we have only real cells with a nucleus. Hence, in these tissue-forming organisms (both plant and animal) the organic unit always consists of two chemically and anatomically different parts—the outer cell-body and the inner nucleus. ”

“ We admit that each tissue and, more generally, each cell of the organism secretes on its own account certain products or special ferments which, through this medium, influence all other cells of the body, a definite solidarity being thus established among all the cells through a mechanism other than the nervous system. ”

“ So at about the time when the microscope had taught that the cell is the really essential structure of the living organism, the chemists had come to understand that every function of the organism is really the expression of a chemical change—that each cell is, in short, a miniature chemical laboratory. ”

“ It would be quite erroneous if we were to consider any substance—for instance, albumen—as the paramount life substance. A single ion can in certain cases decide the life or death of a cell. An aggregation of molecules may combine to form a powerful complex—a colloid—and by means of its properties dominate the whole function of a cell. The structure and configuration of the separate compounds, and of the separate units of the cell are of the greatest importance for its individuality. ”

“ The higher we climb in the scale of organization, particularly in the animal kingdom, the more do we meet with cells which are entrusted with special functions. For instance, we find cells which receive matter from the exterior. Others transform particular compounds into products of a special nature. Others, again, have the function of carrying the final products of metabolism to definite points for excretion.
A unicellular organism stands constantly in relation with numerous substances of the outer world, which differ from place to place and from time to time.. ”