400 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [December 



high values, and therefore increases osmotic pressure. A combina- 

 tion of these two substances should, and usually does, leave the 

 protoplasm in a relatively undisturbed condition. 



Calcium was found to be much less pronounced in its effect on 

 the osmotic value of the protoplast than was sodium. One would 

 expect, however, some effect from calcium as an inhibitor of the 

 toxicity of alcohol. The fact that it does not antagonize alcohol 

 while sodium does corresponds with the difference in valency of the 

 two elements. It will be advisable to test the inhibitory effect of 

 many other monovalent and bivalent ions on ethyl alcohol before 

 arriving at any definite conclusions. 



Similar cases of antagonism have been studied by other workers. 

 Traube (9) found that hemolysis of red blood corpuscles by NaCl 

 was suppressed by isomyl alcohol. Zehl (10) found that the 

 sulphates of Co, Cu, Ni, and Al depress the poisonous action of 

 isobutyl alcohol and an isomyl alcohol on the germinating power of 

 fungus spores, but increase the toxicity of antipyrin, chloral hydrate, 

 and chloroform. Nothmann-Zuckerkandl (3) found that NaCl 

 causes no change in the toxic effect of ethyl alcohol (on Echeveria 

 species), and materially increases the effect of propyl alcohol. 

 CaCl 2 added to the toxic effect of propyl alcohol even more so than 

 did NaCl. 



Only a vast number of experiments will determine in what way 

 the various salts and alcohols antagonize each other. The fact that 

 Nothmann-Zuckerkandl found that NaCl has no influence on 

 the toxicity of ethyl alcohol, while the writer found that it usually 

 well inhibits the toxic effect of ethyl alcohol, is less disturbing than 

 the fact that in my series of experiments, on one and the same plant, 

 NaCl sometimes almost perfectly antagonizes alcohol, and some- 

 times exhibits little or no inhibitory action. 



The word "antagonism" has been used in reference to the effect 

 exercised by sodium chloride, and sodium chloride plus calcium 

 chloride, on the toxicity of alcohol. The antagonism between 

 sodium chloride and alcohol may not be such as that between 

 sodium chloride and calcium chloride. The latter two salts are 

 electrolytes, while alcohol is not. Antagonism between substances 



