Ultrafiltration through Collodion Membranes

It is obvious that the factors considered in this paper render data obtained by ultrafiltration open to criticism unless they are checked by other methods and precautions are taken for the elimination of the vitiating effects which have been described. As regards the mechanism of ultrafiltration, the view of a sieve-like action as most experimental evidence indicates, is adequate, if all the factors are considered which might modify the effective pore size. The behaviors of collodion membranes which seem contrary to a mechanism of ultrafiltration based on the existence of a system of pores, can be explained on the basis of a variable layer of adsorbed fluid on the walls of the pores. It is, therefore, unsound to make any deductions about living tissues from the demonstration of changes produced in the behavior of collodion membranes. Thus, the increase in the rate of filtration of water through collodion by diuretics (29) or the change of permeability due to the presence of surface-active materials, gives us no information about their action in the living organism. The effect of these substances on a sieve-like membrane of the type of collodion would not necessarily bear any analogy to that exerted on the emulsion type of membrane of living cells. The mechanisms of the reactions necessary to produce the same effects in such widely differing systems may be entirely unrelated.