234 KANSAS UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



10 per cent, with a large amount of other ingredients, while 

 whisky and brandy contain from 40 per cent to 50 per cent. 



A dose of 0.1 cc. of 15 per cent alcohol per 10-gram frog, 

 which would produce no preceptible change in the behavior 

 of the frog, but would cause an immediate depression, and in 

 some instances a loss of reflex action that lasted for an hour 

 or more, and not giving place to normal after six hours, would 

 be equivalent to 1 pint of sherry or orange or port wine or 

 1.13 pints of claret or 2 pints of strong beer for a man of aver- 

 age weight, or about 64.7 kilos. 



In general, we may say that alcohol in small quantities, even 

 when no perceptible change in the behavior of the frog is 

 noticed, lowers their reaction time. When the reflex centers 

 have once been afl'ected, even slightly, they do not become nor- 

 mal again for six to twenty-four hours. Therefore, even small 

 quantities of alcohol exert a depressing chemical action upon 

 certain parts of the nervous system, which eff'ects may in- 

 directly aff"ect the muscle tone and vasa motor and cutaneous 

 thermal reflex actions more or less seriously. The larger the 

 dose the greater the effect and the quicker it comes on after 

 giving the alcohol. The effect of the alcohol depends somewhat 

 upon the individual. Some frogs become excited, others slug- 

 gish ; but there was always a depression of the nervous reflex 

 centers. Certain cutaneous nerve organs in the frog are more 

 irritable, and also more susceptible to the influence of alcohol, 

 than others. The skin reflexes are affected by smaller quan- 

 tities of alcohol than the turn-over, swimming, compensatory 

 and equilibrium reflexes are. It also takes them longer to 

 become normal again. Alcohol taken in sufficient quantities, 

 0.6 cc. of 50 per cent, for instance, causes loss of all reflexes, 

 a loss of muscle tone, unconsciousness and convulsions similar 

 to those caused by strychnine poisoning. 



SUMMARY. 



1. Certain sensory spots in the frog's skin differ not only 

 in irritability and reflex action, but in susceptibility to the 

 influence of alcohol, and they vary more or less in their reflex 

 time at different intervals of the day. 



2. The sensory spots or cutaneous sensory organs that were 

 experimented on are affected by much smaller quantities of 

 alcohol than are the turn-over, swimming, compensatory or 

 equilibrium reflexes. When the dose is sufficient to produce 



