The Insensitivity of Paramecium to Cyanide and Effects of Iron on Respiration

1. The effects of KCN and iron salts on oxygen consumption has been studied in the cell of Paramecium caudatum by manometric methods. 2. KCN solutions of strengths from M/200 to M/10,000 have been shown to produce no decrease in oxygen consumption, but have in most cases produced a very slight increase in the respiration rate. 3. The pH values were found to have little or no effect on these results. 4. Iron salts produce either no effect or a great diminution of oxygen consumption, in no case causing stimulation of rates of respiration. 5. Iron salts in neutral solutions do not penetrate the Paramecium cell nor do they cause so marked an effect as in an acid state. 6. The iron-content of Paramecium was found to be extremely small and not demonstrable by delicate tests. It is believed that iron is not combined in the cell in the form of a respiration-catalyst sensitive to cyanide.