830 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 491. 



which the CN is in combination causes this 

 compound to be distributed especially to the 

 central nervous system; the HON is thus split 

 off in greater concentration in these important 

 organs than is the case after the administra- 

 tion of a compound which is distributed more 

 uniformly to important and unimportant or- 

 gans. Through the application of this prin- 

 ciple it may be possible to modify the distribu- 

 tion in the body of a remedial agent, so that 

 the active principle may be present in espe- 

 cially great concentration in the organs which 

 it is desired to affect. It was suggested that 

 the powerful action of nitroglycerine upon the 

 blood vessels may be explained on a similar 

 hypothesis. The view of Hay, that the dilata- 

 tion of the blood vessels caused by nitro- 

 glycerine is due to the formation in the organ- 

 ism of nitrites from this body has been gen- 

 erally accepted, although the objection has 

 been made that it requires two hundred times 

 more sodium nitrite than nitroglycerine to 

 produce a given effect. This criticism may be 

 met by the hypothesis that the glycerine resi- 

 due of the nitroglycerine causes this com- 

 pound to be distributed especially to the 

 arterial walls, so that the nitrite will be 

 formed in, greatest concentration at the point 

 where it exerts its action. 



The work of Heymans and Masoin on the 

 antagonistic action of sodium thiosulphate 

 towards certain nitriles was extended to many 

 new cyanogen compounds. In addition to the 

 thiosulphate, several other compounds, con- 

 taining a sulphur atom which is easily split 

 off, were tested (the sulphur unites in the 

 body to iot-nx a little poisonous sulphocyan- 

 ate) . The most efficient of these new sulphur 

 compounds were thialdin, carbothialdin and 

 potassium xanthogenate. Great differences in 

 the extent of the antidotal action of these 

 bodies towards the various nitriles were noted. 

 Thus, thialdin protected against nitriles 

 towards which potassium xanthogenate was 

 without action; towards other nitriles potas- 

 sium xanthogenate was the more efficacious. 

 Many of these differences can be easily ex- 

 plained on the hypothesis that the various 

 nitriles and sulphur compounds are differently 

 distributed in the body. Unless both the sul- 



phur compound and the nitrile reach the same 

 cells, and unless the conditions in these cells 

 are favorable for the formation of the sul- 

 phocyanate, no neutralization will take place. 



Especially interesting are the experiments 

 on the antidotal action of alcohol towards 

 certain nitriles. It was found that small doses 

 of alcohol protected an animal against three 

 to five times the fatal dose of acetonitrile and 

 formaldehydecyanhydrin, and that after other- 

 wise fatal doses of these substances, the ani- 

 mal recovered if small doses of alcohol were 

 given. It was suggested that the explanation 

 for this action may be that, because it is 

 easily oxidized, alcohol consumed the oxygen 

 usually available for the oxidation of the CH, 

 and CH.OH groups of these compounds, and 

 for the consequent liberation of the HON. 

 Support for this hypothesis was found in the 

 fact that dextrose (another easily oxidizable 

 substance) also protects against acetonitrile. 



This seems to be the first case in which alco- 

 hol has been clearly shown to have an anti- 

 dotal action toward a poison. It was sug- 

 gested that alcohol may have an analogous 

 action in certain pathological conditions in 

 which physicians have long claimed a bene- 

 ficial result from its use. Toward HCN itself 

 and several other nitriles, alcohol has no anti- 

 dotal action; in fact, in some cases the toxi- 

 city of the nitrile was increased by it. 

 Toxicity of Certain Quinine Derivatives i 



Eeid Hunt. 



In one of the side chains of the quinine 

 molecule there is, according to the commonly 

 accepted view, a vinyl group, — CH = CHj. 

 As the toxicity of many compounds (e. g., 

 neurine and allyl alcohol) is chiefly due to the 

 presence of such a group, experiments were 

 made (in Professor Ehrlich's laboratory) to 

 determine whether this is the case with 

 quinine. A number of derivatives in which 

 the vinyl union was broken by the addition of 

 H (hydroquinine), or of or OH (oxyhydro- 

 quinine), or of H and 01 (hydrochlorquinine), 

 were tested as to their toxicity upon various 

 mammals and certain infusoria. The experi- 

 ments showed that the presence of the vinyl 

 group in quinine is without special significance 

 as far as toxicity is concerned, the first two of 



