RICINE. 189 



the same with all animals, though the differences are no greater 

 than can be observed in the case of the crystalloid poisons. 



Its toxic action is enormous. According to EHRLICH it is 

 fatal when introduced subcutaneously in the proportion of 0'03 

 Higrm. per kilo., while 0*18 grm. is a lethal dose per os for a full- 

 grown man. Subcutaneous injection of 1 grm. would kill 1* 

 millions of guinea-pigs, though the minimum lethal dose shows 

 some variation. Mice are less susceptible ; rabbits somewhat 

 more so. In measuring the toxic power EHRLICH invariably 

 uses an injection of 1 c.c. for each 20 grms. of body substance ; 

 on that basis a dilution of 1 : 200,000 would be undoubtedly 

 fatal to mice. 



In like manner CUSHNY found the lethal dose for rabbits to be 

 0-04 mgrm. per kilo., while JACOBY found that 0'5 mgrm. of 

 Merck's ricine per kilo, of body weight was required to kill 

 rabbits. 



According to OSBORNE and MANDEL 1 the lethal dose per kilo, 

 for rabbits of their purified ricine was 0-002 mgrm. 



It also shares with toxines the property of acting much more 

 weakly by way of the digestive tract. Yet its action is always 

 plainly perceptible even when introduced in this way, though 

 doses a hundred times as great are required (STILLMARK, p 185). 

 This property depends on the much more considerable resistance 

 offered by ricine than by the bacterial toxines to the digestive 

 enzymes. 



The effects produced by ricine can be classified in four groups 

 viz., the local action at the point of application, the general 

 effects, the action on the conjunctiva, and the action on the 

 blood-corpuscles. 



Ricine, like many bacterial toxines, frequently produces severe 

 indurations, inflammation, abscesses and necroses at the point 

 of inoculation. Whether these pathological changes are due to 

 the ricine itself or to impurities has not yet been definitely 

 determined. There is, however, some support for the view that 

 these symptoms are possibly only produced, as is frequently 

 observed in other cases, through the simultaneous introduction 

 of proteids foreign to the body. 



The general - changes that take place in ricine poisoning had 

 already been studied by the older investigators, and subsequently 

 by FLEXNER 2 and FRANZ MULLER (loc. cit.) in particular. 



The first symptom is an increase in the temperature and a 



1 Osborne and Mandel, "Ricine," Amer. Journ. PhysioL, x., 36, 1903. 

 2 Flexner, "The Pathology of Toxalbumin Intoxication," Johns Hopkins 

 Hospital Record, 1897 (reprint). 



