588 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 850 



viduals of any species are subjected to the 

 influence of alcohol it can be determined in 

 general how great an amount of alcohol the 

 species can endure. 



In some experiments with rotifers, Hydatina 

 senta, to determine the effect of different ex- 

 ternal influences upon the parent and off- 

 spring, various alcoholic beverages have been 

 used and have given very definite results as to 

 their relative toxicity. These experiments are 

 not exhaustive nor complete, but it seems ad- 

 visable to record them since they demonstrate 

 very clearly that the toxic effect of some of the 

 common alcoholic liquors is not proportional 

 to the amount of alcohol contained in them. 



The rotifers are microscopic aquatic ani- 

 mals living in certain kinds of foul water. In 

 the laboratory such water was prepared by 

 placing a small amount of horse manure in a 

 two-quart jar of tap water. This mixture was 

 inoculated with various kinds of bacteria and 

 also with very small flagellated protozoa. 

 In about thirty-six hours the jar was swarm- 

 ing with millions of the small protozoa. A 

 cubic centimeter of this water containing the 

 protozoa was added to nine cubic centimeters 

 of tap water and then adult rotifers were 

 placed in this mixture. They lived in it read- 

 ily eating the protozoa and laying eggs which 

 developed into mature offspring in about 

 forty-eight hours. 



Varying amoimts of each alcoholic beverage 

 were added to this water in which the rotifers 

 lived thus causing the toxicity of the whole 

 solution to vary according to the amount of 

 the alcoholic beverage present in the mixture. 

 As an indicator to the toxicity o"f the bever- 

 ages thus diluted with the water in which the 

 rotifers lived, two points were noted: (1) the 

 percentage of alcohol present in the diluted 

 beverage at which the animals died within 

 10-30 minutes; (2) the highest percentage of 

 alcohol present in the diluted beverage at 

 which the females produced apparently normal 

 young. 



The following tables give the details of the 

 experiments and bring out clearly the fact 

 that alcohol is not the only cause of the in- 

 jurious effects produced by alcohol beverages. 



If two beverages which contain approxi- 

 mately the same amount of alcohol are com- 

 pared the poisonous effects of each are some- 

 times nearly equal as is true of claret and 

 white wine or Holland gin and brandy, but, in 

 other cases, the poisonous effects may be very 

 unequal, as is very clearly shown in the com- 

 parison of the second sample of eider and 

 Ballentine's ale. Here the alcoholic contents 

 of each are nearly equivalent but the toxicity 

 of the eider far surpasses that of the ale in 

 both sets of experiments as recorded in Tables 

 I. and II. 



Shoimng the Highest Peroe^itage of Alcohol in 



the Beverages at which the Rotifers Lived 



10-SO Minutes 



Cider 



Cider 



Cider 



Claret 



Claret 



Port wine . 



Port wine 



White wine 



Sherry 



Sherry 



Dark beer 



Red star lager beer... 



Sohlitz beer 



Budweiser lager beer. 



Ballentine's ale 



Ballentine's ale 



Bass's pale ale 



Bass's pale ale 



Eye whiskey 



Blend whiskey 



Holland gin 



Holland gin 



French brandy 



Cooking brandy 



Absolute alcohol 



7.5 

 6.23 

 8.8 

 11. 

 9.25 

 19.65 

 22.6 

 11.5 

 20.5 

 19.25 

 5.8 

 3.75 

 5.35 

 4.9 

 6.3 

 6.3 

 9.25 

 8.5 

 46.4 

 44.5 

 49. 

 52. 

 50.8 

 53.2 

 99.5 



0.2 



0.4 



0.4 



0.4 



0.5 



0.9 



1.5 



0.6 



1.5 



1.5 



2. 



2. 



2. 



2. 



2. 



2. 



1. 



1.5 



10. 



10. 



10. 



10. 



10. 



10. 



10. 



.2 m 



25 minutes 



22-40 



30 



30-45 



20 



30 



30 



30 



30 



30 



30 



20 



20 



20 



20-35 



20-35 



35 



15 



10 



60 



35 



35 



20 



25 



45-60 



Liquors which contain a high percentage of 

 alcohol may be more toxic or may be less toxic 

 than liquors containing a low percentage of 

 alcohol. Sherry and port wine which contain 

 about twenty parts of alcohol are much more 

 toxic than Schlitz's beer and Ballentine's ale. 



