The tissues remaining: after filtration of these various preparations were fed 

 to cots with no ill effects, as shown in the above tables, indicatin?» that the 

 amount of poison remaining in the tissues was small. 



The symptoms of poisoning obseirved in these injection experiments v;ere very 

 similar to those seen in the experiments in which the toxic materials were 

 administered by mouth. 



As explained in the followln* section on "preservation", dried barracuda and 

 lampreys from Japan were used as controls (Preparations !Ios, 6 nnd 7). The lethal 

 quantity, as indicated by these tests, differed by 200 to 300 percent from that of 

 the dried salted specimens. 



The aka.jin f Fleet ropomus truncatusj was shown by the feeding; experiments re9 

 ported in Chapter II to fall in the nildXy toxic category. Injection experiments 

 using stron,!;ly or violently toxic species would probably show even greater 

 differences . 



The experiments reported above indicate that for extracting the poison 

 Vethod *Io. 2, employing alcohol, is the best, 



[Pa,":© 127) Section 4 Preservation of Toxic Substances 



Since the investigation of these poisons must be carried on in distant tropi- 

 cal areas where facilities an'- supplies for chemical tests are hard to obtain, 

 the best thing to do is, if possible, to preserve the toxicity of the materials 

 and transport them back to Japan, Several methods of accorr^sHshlng this were 

 tried, and they are introduced here for the information of those who may study 

 these poisons at a later time, 



1. Cannigg and bottling 



Since the poison resists a temperature of 100° C, sterilization by 

 heating is possible. If, therefore, facilities are available, preservation by 

 canning or bottling will be convenient. The author tried this, but the technique 

 was faulty and the material became useless through putrefaction, 



2. Salting and drying 



"fuscle tissues were sprinkled with salt and dried in the sun, the 

 dicing bein" continued for several days in strong sunlight. These materials were 

 taken back to Japan where after about nine months they -"ere used in experiments 

 Tvith the results shown in the tables (Preparations "os. 1, 2, 3, end 4). It 

 was not possible to tell how much their toxicity had been diminished by preser- 

 vation because there weire no records of tests nado with the row flesh, but 

 comparison "'ith the controls indicrted that some of the toxicity at least was 

 retained. 



3. Preservation in alcohol 



T'resh tissues '.vere placed in absolute alcohol in a tightly covered 

 wide-mouthed jar, and were kept for nine months after v.'hich they rere used in 

 experiments vith the results shown in the table (see Preparation Ho. 10). The 



64 



