the glands,—by the glands absorbing various fluids or matter dissolved
out of certain bodies,—by exosmose,—and by a certain degree of heat. On
the other hand, a temperature of about 150° Fahr. (65°.5 Cent.) does
not excite aggregation; nor does the sudden crushing of a gland. If a
cell is ruptured, neither the exuded matter nor that which still
remains within the cell undergoes aggregation when carbonate of ammonia
is added. A very strong solution of this salt and rather large bits of
raw meat prevent the aggregated masses being well developed. From these
facts we may conclude that the protoplasmic fluid within a cell does
not become aggregated unless it be in a living state, and only
imperfectly if the cell has been injured. We have also seen that the
fluid must be in an oxygenated state, in order that the process of
aggregation should travel from cell to cell at the proper rate.
Various nitrogenous organic fluids and salts of ammonia induce
aggregation, but in different degrees and at very different rates.
Carbonate of ammonia is the most powerful of all known substances; the
absorption of 1/134400 of a grain (.000482 mg.) by a gland suffices to
cause all the cells of the same tentacle to become aggregated. The
first effect of the carbonate and of certain other salts of ammonia, as
well as of some other fluids, is the darkening or blackening of the
glands. This follows even from long immersion in cold distilled water.
It apparently depends in chief part on the strong aggregation of their
cell-contents, which thus become opaque, and do not reflect light. Some
other fluids render the glands of a brighter red; whilst certain acids,
though much diluted, the poison of the cobra-snake, &c., make the
glands perfectly white and opaque; and this seems to depend on the
coagulation of their contents without [page 63] any aggregation.
Nevertheless, before being thus affected, they are able, at least in
some cases, to excite aggregation in their own tentacles.