The Lyophilic Colloids (their Theory and Practice)

Abstract

THE greater part of this book is given up to a restatement of the theory of the general nature of lyophilic colloids proposed by the authors fifteen years ago, together with the considerable bulk of evidence supporting it. The most important section, however, is that in which the biological applications of the theory are considered. In brief, protoplasm is to be regarded, not as water containing certain sub-stances, but as a combination of those substances forming a base-protein-acid compound with water ‘dissolved’ in it as an integral part. The difference is the same as that between water containing dissolved soap or phenol, and a solution of water in soap or phenol. It follows that the laws governing the behaviour of substances in dilute solution, such as the laws of diffusion and osmotic pressure, cannot be applied, as physiologists and pathologists still apply them, to protoplasm, which has the characteristics of a lyophilic colloid.

The Lyophilic Colloids (their Theory and Practice).

By Prof. Martin H. Fischer Marian O. Hooker. Pp. viii + 246 + 24 plates. (London: Baillière, Tindall and Cox, 1933.) 22s. 6d.