NATURE OF THE ACTION OF ANAESTHETICS 51 



mal solutions are prepared by adding the hydrogen equivalent of 

 the reagent in grams to a liter of distilled water (78). The " nor- 

 mal " solution of common salt used by animal physiologists how- 

 ever contains .6 g. salt in a liter of water (Sterling). Place small 

 colonies of Spirogyra in every dish, and add enough of the above 

 solutions to fill the dishes to a suitable level. Cover loosely and 

 set in sunlight. Examine material a day later. Determine, by 

 plasmolysis tests and general appearance, the solutions causing 

 death and tabulate results. Compare the action of the two alcohols 

 and note their relative complexity of chemical structure. A normal 

 solution of ethyl alcohol is made by adding 46 grams of absolute 

 alcohol to a liter of distilled water. Normal solution of methyl 

 alcohol is made by adding 32 grams to a liter of distilled water. 1 



A remarkable instance of the capacity of a structure resisting 

 penetration by alcohol (ethylic?) is that cited by Barnes who 

 kept sporocarps of Marsilia quadrifolia immersed in a 95 per- 

 cent, solution for six years, yet when these where washed and 

 immersed in water the spores germinated normally. The spore- 

 coverings were doubtless impervious to the alcohol, and the 

 spores must have lived the entire period with only a minute sup- 

 ply of oxygen. 2 



76. Nature of the Action of Anaesthetics. A number of the 

 catalytic poisons when applied to the organism in dilute solutions, 

 or in low concentration, render the organism insensible to the 

 various forces which usually act as stimuli, as illustrated by the 

 action of chloroform on Mimosa. The manner in which anaes- 

 thetic reagents affect living matter is not clearly made out. De- 

 ductions from the results of narcosis of the higher animals may 

 not be given very wide significance, since in such organisms 

 specialized tissues are affected and adaptive or regulatory proc- 

 esses are set up, the products of which may be quite unlike 

 those of simple organisms. Anaesthetics undoubtedly depress the 



1 Tsukamoto. On the poisonous action of alcohols upon different organisms. 

 Journal Coll. of Science : Japan, 7 : 269. 1895. 



2 Barnes, C. R. Vitality of Marsilia quadrifolia. Bot. Gazette, 20 : 229. 1895. 

 Also Plant World, 2 : 140. 1899. 



