VI. THE EFFECTS OF HYDROGEN ION CONCENTRATION IN VITAL STAINING

I. W. Bailey ¹ and Conway Zirkle ¹

¹ From Bussey Institution, Harvard University, Forest Hills, Massachusetts

It should be emphasized, in conclusion, that the writers' investigation is a reconnaissance, and was initiated primarily in searching for more adequate techniques for the study of cytological problems. Crude as many of the data undoubtedly are, they are of some significance in outlining future trends of more intensive investigation. The occurrence of two distinct types of vacuoles within the same cell provides a valuable check upon generalizations concerning the penetration of certain dyes. The A-type vacuole affords a means of determining that a number of dyes do penetrate living plant cells readily and rapidly from acid buffers. The recognition of two distinct categories of vacuoles—which are widely distributed throughout the higher plants—and a study of their staining reactions in Group I, Group II, and Group III dyes, indicate that certain discrepancies in the literature are due to the fact that different investigators are concerned with different vacuoles and with different dyes. For an accurate visualization of the physico-chemical mechanisms of the penetration and accumulation of dyes in living cells a much wider range of reliable data is essential, both as regards the purely biological variables and the physico-chemical variables in techniques employed in their investigation. Until such data are available, generalizations from limited induction should be reduced to a minimum.

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