ACTION OF ALCOHOL UPON CIRCULATION— WOOD AND IIOYT. 



63 



Experiment 28.- Snapping turtle. 



In studying the experiments which have here been recorded in detail, it will he noted that in 

 Experiment 23 under the influence of one-fourth of 1 per cent of alcohol the heart work increased 

 from a maximum of 105 to 150 c. c, then on the withdrawal of the alcohol fell to 84 c. c, hut rose 

 again to 111 on the renewal of the alcohol, to fall again to 100 when the alcohol was withdrawn; to 

 rise to 110 again when the alcohol was added in half per cent, this rise being followed, however, 

 by a rapid fall in the amount of the heart work, which on the increase of the alcohol in the blood 

 to 1 per cent came down to 43 c. c. per minute. The technical details of this experiment were 

 not satisfactory in that at one time the apparatus had to be taken entirely apart on account of 

 coagulation of blood in it, and that later the process had to be again stopped in order to remove 

 air which had been shut in the tube. 



In Experiment 24 the work of the heart rose from 10 c. C. during the prealcoholic period to 

 91 c. c. during the alcoholic period, tailing, however, very distinctly when the alcohol was 

 withdrawn from the blood; increasing later to 104 when the alcohol was increased to one-half 

 per cent, and falling rapidly to 22 when the alcohol was withdrawn, rising again on the addition 

 of 1 per cent of alcohol temporarily, the rise being followed by a fall. The first part of this 

 experiment was in its technique not thoroughly satisfactory and the alleged norm of 10 c. c. is 

 almost certainly incorrect. The apparatus in the beginning failed to work properly, for reasons 

 which were not clearly made out; requiring ten minutes for taking everything apart and getting 

 the tubes together again before the blood flowed freely. The original norm was probably 

 incorrect, but the subsequent readings were clearly accurate. 



The two experiments, 2:; and 24, whose results we have just epitomized, were maae with 

 medium-sized hearts derived from frogs of corresponding size. For reasons which have been 

 heretofore assigned, it seems to be impossible to get with such hearts satisfactory results, and 

 we therefore do not think that very much weight can be given to these Experiments 23 and 24. 



The remaining experiments of the series were made with powerful hearts, capable of over- 

 coming the resistance and other abnormal conditions of the heart under study. 



In Experiment 25, under the influence of one-fourth percent of alcohol, the heart work rose 

 from 93 to 103; that is, 12 per cent; fell 12 per cent when the alcohol was withdrawn, rose about 

 5 per cent under the influence of one-third per cent of alcohol, fell to 10 per cent below the 

 original norm when the alcohol was withdrawn: the heart subsequently failing under the influence 

 of one-half of 1 per cent of alcohol. 



In Experiment 26, made with a land tortoise, the norm of heart work was found to be 149 

 c. c, rising to 175 on the addition of one-half of 1 per cent of alcohol to the nutritive fluid, to 

 fall to 125 when the alcohol was withdrawn. 



In Experiment 27. in which a snake was used, the heart work norm was 60 c. c. ; the addition 

 of one-half of 1 per cent of alcohol made it rise to 68 c. c, about 13 per cent: then the work fell 

 to the original norm when the alcohol was withdrawn, to rise again about 15 per cent on the 

 addition of one- half of I per cent of alcohol to the blood; to fall again In percent below the 

 norm when the alcohol was withdrawn, again to rise temporarily under the influence of two- 

 thirds of 1 per cent, of alcohol, to fall again much below the norm mi the withdrawal of the 

 alcohol, again to increase under the influence of two-thirds of 1 per cent of alcohol 16 per cent, 

 to finallv fall when the alcohol was withdrawn. 



