The rate of entrance of electrolyte and of water into impaled cells of Halicystis Osterhoutii is unaffected by raising the pH of the sea water to 9.2 or lowering it to 7.0. It is quite possible that sodium enters by combining with an organic acid HX produced by the protoplasm. If the pK' of this acid is sufficiently low the change in external pH would not produce much effect on the rate of entrance of sodium.

The rate of entrance of electrolytes is affected by light. In normal light (i.e. natural succession of daylight and darkness) the rate is about twice as great as in darkness.

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Copyright, 1939, by The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research
1939
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