Note 96 — THE INDIVIDUAL ORGANISM WITH REGARD TO FORM AND METABOLISM (continued 3)

Carbohydrates cannot be ionised, and therefore there is no doubt that in von Mayenburg’s experiments the organism itself is actively at work. As to compounds liable to ionisation, it has been noticed by Maillard that a certain regulatory character is contained simply in the physical fact that the degree of ionisation changes with concentration: decrease of concentration for instance would be followed by an increase of ionisation, and so the osmotic pressure may be preserved (C. rend. Soc. Biol. 53, 1901, p. 880).