Studies in the meaning and relationships of birth and death rates / by John Brownlee.

  • John Brownlee
Date:
[1913]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Studies in the meaning and relationships of birth and death rates / by John Brownlee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    48/53 page 33
    38 STUDIES IN THE MEANING AND RELATIONSHIPS OF BIRTH AND DEATH RATES. V. In a large number of cases the curves which describe the rate at which ferments, antibodies, etc., disappear in the body accord in form with the equations of physical chemistry, but not so as to be readily interpretable. If one molecule, two molecules, etc., take part in a reaction then it is clear that the indices in the equations must bear certain relations to whole numbers. Failure to conform to these relations seems at first sight to imply that a fraction of a molecule takes part in a reaction, but this is not necessarily the case. Such a failure has been found to appear when the curves of many vital phenomena, e.g. the disappearance of agglutins in an organism, are fitted to physico-chemical equations. A possible meaning, however, can easily be seen. Firstly, as the monomolecular reaction is so frequent in life pheno- mena, it is quite reasonable to assume that it is the rule. Secondly, it is highly improbable that such a substance as an agglutin is a simple substance. It is much more probably a group of substances each of which has its own rate of decay. If each member of this group be taken to obey the monomolecular reaction, the amount of agglutin present at a definite time x, instead of being represented by the form as is required by the monomolecular theory, will be represented by a sum of such forms, each substance disappearing at a different rate, and each present originally in a different amount. Now certain curves of frequency exist which may be tried. If the frequency of each value of k be denoted (Pearson’s Type III, a curve having a very wide range of forms) the amount of the substance after a period x will be represented by On the difficulty that in applying the laws of physical chemistry to life processes, indices occur which suggest the actions of fractions of a molecule. By JOHN BROWNLEE, M.D., D.Sc. a dk,
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3