The effects of acids on a soil nematode

Abstract

1. The effects of the following acids were studied: hydrochloric, nitric, sulphuric, formic, acetic, propionic, butyric, isovaleric, glycollic, lactic, oxalic, malonic, succinic, malic, tartaric, and citric.2. The general effects of immersion in acid mediaincludean increased stickiness of the cuticle in certain solutions, and the development of lateral bulges in the cuticle at the anterior region of the body, not necessarily in the same solutions. Movement gradually decreases, and death eventually occurs, often followed by swelling.3. The survival times in various solutions were noted. Preliminary experiments showed that the logarithm of the survival time was approximately proportional to the logarithm of the normality of the acid. Later results showed great variability, and it was necessary to restrict the work to a single normality of each acid.4. The toxicities of 0·206Nsolutions of the sixteen acids were measured. These results showed that the mineral acids had markedly greater effects than the organic acids, and the importance of the former was further illustrated by using mixtures of HCl containing varying amounts of organic acids. The differences between the mineral acids may be explained by the lyotropic effects of the anions.5. Equal normalities of organic acids were made up in a solution of HCl sufficiently strong to render the organic acids almost entirely undissociated. The relative toxicities of the mixtures were essentially the same as those of the dissociated acids.6. The differences between the acids are thus partly due to thepH differences, and partly due to the dissimilar effects of the undissociated acids. The latter are believed to be due to a variety of causes, including molecular size, polarity of the molecule, and other factors as yet undecided.