392 



MEMOIRS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



PROPORTIONS OF ALCOHOL OXIDIZED AND UNOXIDIZED. 



In the experiments in which alcohol formed part of the diet the urine, drip, and freezer 

 waters and outgoing air current were examined for the presence of alcohol, or the products of 

 incomplete oxidation of alcohol, according- to the method discussed on page 258. The determina- 

 tions were made by the amount of reduction of a standard sulphuric-acid solution of chromic acid. 

 The materials thus found were called reducing materials, and the total amounts were calculated 

 as alcohol. 



In 6 of the later experiments in which alcohol did not form part of the diet the same tests 

 were made in the excretory and respiratory products as indicated above, and considerable 

 quantities of reducing material were found. These were likewise calculated as alcohol. The 

 average daily amount eliminated in each of these experiments and the average of the results of 

 all 6 are shown in Table CXXI. 



Table CXXI. — Average daily elimination of reducing material by lungs and kidneys in experiments in which alcohol did 



not form a part ofth diet. 



[Quantities expressed in alcohol equivalent.] 



In the average of all <> experiments the reducing material determined was found equivalent 

 to 0.32 of a gram of alcohol per day. Accordingly, from the total amount of reducing material 

 determined in the alcohol experiments, 0.3 gram was subtracted in estimating the amount of 

 alcohol excreted unoxidized. This is shown in Table CXXII, which summarizes the data for 

 the excretion of unoxidized alcohol in the different experiments. The figures in column d show 

 the total amount of reducing material, calculated as alcohol, which was found in the distillates 

 from the urine and the water condensed in the chamber and the freezers, and more especially in 

 the air current. From each of the values in column d 0.3 gram is subtracted, as explained above, 

 to obtain the values in column e, which represent the amount of alcohol excreted unoxidized. The 

 difference between the alcohol ingested, column n, and that excreted, column <>, represents the 

 amount actually metabolized, column/'. The latter amount divided by the amount ingested 

 shows the per cent metabolized, column a. 



It will be noticed that the values for alcohol metabolized in the body in experiments 7 to 22 

 are slightly larger in Table CXXII than they are in the tables giving the details of these experi- 

 ments on preceding pages. This is due to the fact that in the detail tables the total amount of 

 reducing material, as found in the experiments, was taken as the measure of the alcohol excreted 

 in the experiments specified, whereas in the summary table the average amount of reducing 

 material found has been deducted from the total reducing material in all the experiments alike. 



