168 



JOHN N. LOWE 



Joffroy and Serveaux ('95) studied the toxicity of alcohols 

 on mammals by intravenous injections. Bear ('98) introduced 

 the alcohol directly into the stomach of the mammals. Picaud 

 ('97) placed fish and amphibians in the solutions of the alcohols 

 and in this way determined the toxicity of the alcohols. Brad- 

 bury ('99) andCololian ('01) used fish, Overton ('01) on tadpoles 

 employed the same method in their investigations. Wirgin ('04) 

 determined the concentrations at which the various alcohols in- 

 hibited the growth of Micrococcus pyogenes aureus. He also 

 investigated the laking power of the alcohols on the red corpuscles 

 of the rabbit. Vernon ('11) studied the depression of an iso- 

 lated tortoise heart by the alcohols. In table 3 the toxicity 

 of ethyl alcohol is taken as unity and the values given are the 

 comparative toxicities of the other alcohols. The values are 

 only approximate. 



TABLE 3 



Methyl 

 Ethyl.. 

 Propyl. 



0.46 



1.0 



3.5 



0.8 

 1.0 

 2,0 



0.67 



1.0 



2.0 



1.0 

 1.0 

 1.0 



1.1 

 1.0 

 3.6 



0.73 



1.0 



2.0 





0.73 



1.0 



1.5 



w 3 



0.84 



1.0 



2.1 





0.72 



1.0 



2.1 



GO H 



<i W " H ',H 



J K H « 



& H Z 05 



S fc W fc S 



" O S O H 



0.45 



1.0 



2.0 



O J o 



5 E H o to 



2 o « o 



a H " B iH 



to B H K 



H H z n 



fe o S o a 



0.55 



1.0 



3.0 



The stimulation level is lowest in methyl alcohol (4.5 per 

 cent); next is ethyl alcohol (1.6 per cent to 2.5 per cent); and 

 lastly propyl alcohol (0.08 per cent to 0.125 per cent). This is 

 in harmony with the results of other investigators on the toxi- 

 city of alcohols where it was found that methyl was less potent 

 in bringing about narcosis, and the potency increased for the 

 other alcohols directly with the molecular weight. It was shown 

 by Baer ('98) that the toxicity of the alcohols varied directly as 

 their boiling points. Meyer ('99) and Overton ('01) discovered 

 that the narcotic action of the alcohols varied with their solvent 

 power for fats or lipoids. It may be suggested that in addition 

 to the above physical factors involved in the action of the alco- 

 hols, that the dielectric constant of the alcohols probably plays 



