Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 83.djvu/560

556 }} death within a brief delay. The second method was selected for experimentation. This amount was designated the true toxic equivalent.

By experiment it was found that for the dog when an amount less than 7.90 c.c. of commercially pure ethyl alcohol was given recovery followed, at or above 8 c.c. per kilogram death ensued. For the dog, hence, the true toxic equivalent was set as 7.95 c.c. (6.36 gr.). For the rabbit from amounts lower than 7.50 c.c. all survived; from amounts above 7.80 c.c. all died. For the rabbit, therefore, 7.75 c.c. (6.20 gr.) per kilogram was set as the true toxic equivalent. The average of 6.36 gr. for the dog, while seemingly differing considerably from that (7.75 gr.) found by Dujardin-Beaumetz and Audigé is in fact in close accord with it.

If in the experiments of Dujardin-Beaumetz and Audigé all animals that died within three or four days are substituted for all animals that died within 36 hours, the toxic equivalent for ethyl alcohol instead of being 7.75 gr. increases to about 6 gr. per kilogram. This is in agreement with what Lussana and Albertoni found, but it is slightly higher than that given by Joffroy and Serveaux (6.36 gr.) in the perfected method.

The work by Joffroy and Serveaux on the true toxic equivalent of methyl alcohol is most thorough. By the same procedure as for ethyl alcohol they have shown that for the dog amounts above 9.10 c.c. produce death. They have, therefore, established as the true toxic equivalent for the dog by intravenous injection 9 c.c. per kilogram. For the rabbit this is 10.90 c.c. per kilogram.

Two things of interest are made evident in the work on methyl alcohol. These are: (1) That for the dog methyl alcohol is more toxic than for the rabbit (the opposite was seen to be true for ethyl); (2) that for both the dog and the rabbit it is less toxic than ethyl alcohol, and is therefore in harmony with the law of Rabuteau.

From these various studies it is clear that alcohol in large quantities is a poison capable of causing death, the most toxic being amyl and the least toxic methyl, and that the difference in the degree of toxicity follows the law of Rabuteau: A substance (alcohol) is as toxic as its molecular weight and boiling point are elevated.