EFFECTS OF LOWER ALCOHOLS ON PARAMECIUM. 257 



each of which was treated with six different alcohols, and ob- 

 served as to population in comparison with untreated, undiluted, 

 controls at intervals up to two months from the time of prepara- 

 tion. The concentrations of methyl and n-propyl alcohols seem to 

 have been a little high for some of the cultures. The alcoholic 

 content was as follows: 2 per cent, methyl; I per cent, ethyl; 1/2 

 percent, w-propyl; 1/4 per cent, w-butyl; 3/4 per cent, i-propyl; 

 3/8 per cent, i-butyl. 



TABLE II. 



RECORDS OF FIVE DISCRETE EXPERIMENTS ON CLONE 10 IN i.o PER CENT. 



METHYL ALCOHOL, SHOWING THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN 



ALCOHOLIZED AND CONTROL CULTURES AFTER 



DIFFERENT PERIODS OF TIME. 



1. Time, 16 days. Temperature maintained at 27.5. 



Treated culture flourishing. 

 Control beginning to starve. 



2. Time, 30 days. Room temperature. Covers sealed with vaseline. 



Treated culture contains many large, slow-moving animals. 

 Control died of starvation. 



3. Time, 30 days. Temperature maintained at 25. 



Treated culture contains many paramecia of almost normal size, 

 but much vacuolated and very slow-moving. 

 Control died of starvation. 



4. Time, 30' days. Temperature maintained at 35. 



Treated culture contains many small, active paramecia. 

 Control died of starvation. 



5. Time, 50 days. Room temperature. 



Treated culture contains many large, active, slightly vacuolated 



paramecia. 



Control died of starvation. 



Inspection of the tables reveals that all alcohols have a similar 

 influence on starving cultures. Not only do all of them post- 

 pone the advent of starvation, but they may even restore severely 

 starved cultures to their former prosperity. This fact should 

 not be taken to indicate that alcohols function directly as food 

 for Paramecium, as they appear to do for green algte (Moore 

 and Webster, 1920). In the present case their mode of action 

 is obscure. In activity the alcoholized paramecia remain normal, 

 increase, or decrease; and in size they remain normal, or de- 

 crease conditions attributable quite as well to nutritional as to 

 pharmacological influence. 



