. The dynamics of living matter . 56 DYNAMICS OF LIVING MATTER the moving oil will, through friction, set the adjoining particles of water also in motion. The superficial layers of water, therefore, will move away from the center of spreading, and water will move toward the center from the interior, and from below. The arrows in Fig. 8 represent the currents in the water caused by the spreading of the oil. WATER Quincke holds that such FlG 8 phenomena of spreading are the cause of all protoplasmic streaming. Such a streaming occurs constantly in the cells of Chara or Nitella. Quincke gives the
. The dynamics of living matter . 56 DYNAMICS OF LIVING MATTER the moving oil will, through friction, set the adjoining particles of water also in motion. The superficial layers of water, therefore, will move away from the center of spreading, and water will move toward the center from the interior, and from below. The arrows in Fig. 8 represent the currents in the water caused by the spreading of the oil. WATER Quincke holds that such FlG 8 phenomena of spreading are the cause of all protoplasmic streaming. Such a streaming occurs constantly in the cells of Chara or Nitella. Quincke gives the following explanation for this process: all protoplasm contains oil or fat, and the surface layer of each cell must, therefore, be surrounded by a film of oil or fat. The oil will form through hydrolysis traces of fatty acid. The protoplasm contains substances which form soaps with the fatty acid. A soap solution must spread at the limit between oil and water, as the surface tension between oil and water is greater than the sums of surface tension between oil and soap solution, and between water and soap solution (which is zero). When the soap solution spreads, it must pull with it the adjacent particles of protoplasm. In this phenomenon of spreading, new particles of the surface of oil come in contact with protoplasm, new soap is formed, and the process is repeated. These phenomena of spreading, which constantly repeat themselves, furnish the energy for the constant streaming of protoplasm. The protoplasmic streaming occurs in the case of Chara or Nitella in one direction only. Quincke believes that this is due to an asymmetry in the structure of the cell, which renders the resistance to the streaming greater in one direction than in the opposite direction. Hence, the streaming occurs in one direction only; namely, that of least resistance. The motion of an Amoeba can be imitated by bringing a drop of olive oil which contains a trace of fatty acid upon a one half to two per c
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