I9I4] Alfred P. Lothrop 311 



Sali Vary sulfocyanate appears to be wholly excretory in charac- 

 ter and significance. After the administration of sulfocyanate it is 

 promptly ejected through all the secretory Channels including the 

 salivary glands. Dog saliva, which is normally free from sulfo- 

 cyanate, contains sulfocyanate in abundance after its systemic in- 

 troduction, 



117. A further study of the pharmacology of sulfocyanate.* ^ 

 Charles C. Lieb and William J. Gies.^^ Numerous experiments 

 on animals and men yielded results which may be stated in general 

 terms as f ollows : 



Therapeutic doses of sodium sulfocyanate (in cats and dogs 

 under anesthesia) were practically without effect on respiration, 

 heart-rate, blood pressure, secretion of saliva, secretion of bile and 

 excretion of urine. 



Daily therapeutic doses of sodium sulfocyanate (in three men 

 under Observation for from two to three weeks at a time in each 

 case) induced no unfavorable effects on heart-rate or blood pressure. 



The sulfocyanates of sodium and potassium, in therapeutic pro- 

 portions, exerted no appreciable systemic action. The observed 

 toxicity of the potassium salt in such doses was due solely to the 

 potassium ion. 



We believe, in harmony with the results of our experiments, 

 that there is nothing about the known qualities of sulfocyanate to 

 indicate that sulfocyanate is able, in the proportions of its normal 

 occurrence in saliva, to affect the secretory tendencies of the salivary 

 or buccal glands, to modify the oral membranes, to influence the 

 teeth from any Standpoint, or to stimulate or retard or alter the 

 activities of the oral micro-organisms. To attribute to sulfocyanate 

 any such power is to do so empirically and without any present evi- 

 dence in support of such an opinion. 



The proportions of sulfocyanate that normally occur in the 

 blood, lymph, tissues, secretions, and excretions appear to be wholly 

 devoid of toxic or physiological effects. 



12 Conducted under the auspices of the Dental Society of the State of 

 New York. See Dental Cosmos, 1914, Ivi, p. 175. 



13 The pharmacological observations were made in the Pharmacological 

 Laboratory, by Dr. Lieb, with the senior author one of the subjects. 



