Note 296 — Chapter V · THE FORMS OF CELLS

A case which we have not specially considered, but which may be found to deserve consideration in biology, is that of a cell or drop suspended in a liquid of varying density, for instance in the upper layers of a fluid (e.g. sea-water) at whose surface condensation is going on, so as to produce a steady density-gradient. In this case the normally spherical drop will be flattened into an oval form, with its maximum surface-curvature lying at the level where the densities of the drop and the surrounding liquid are just equal. The sectional outline of the drop has been shewn to be not a true oval or ellipse, but a somewhat complicated quartic curve. (Rice, Phil. Mag. Jan. 1915.)