100 BENEFICIAL ACTION OF CERTAIN "POISONS"; AND 



Prof. A. D. Waller, F. R. S. in 1910 investigated the ty- 

 pical case of the poisonous alkaloid aconitine: he found that, 

 whereas aconitine was distinctly poisonous for frog's muscle, 

 it did not in the least restrain the activity of such an enzyme 

 as ptyalin. A 0.01 Normal solution of aconitine after twelve 

 hours' contract with ptyalin and starch was found to have 

 exerted no restraining influence on the enzyme at all.- It 

 saccharified starch as rapidly as did an unpoisoned control. 

 Now aconitine is a deadly poison, but to bioplasm itself, not 

 to its product the secretion-enzyme, ptyalin. The relative 

 toxicity of some poisons for frog's muscle is given by Waller 

 (A), and along side it, I place a table of poison? for reduct- 

 ase (B). 



A. 



Aconitine 1000.00 



Quinine 100.00 



Nicotine 33 . 00 



Theobromine 18.00 



Caffeine 12.00 



Chloroform 6.00 



Ether 0.72 



Alcohol 0.06 



B. 



Chloroform 5 



Ether ^ 



Morphine ,3 



Caffeine ' 



Alcohol I ,_, . 



Quinine | 



Aconitine 1 



From these figures we see that whereas aconitine is the 

 most deadly for protoplasm, it is actually the least injurious 

 "poison" for the reducing, respiratory tissue-enzyme, reduc- 

 tase. Again, chloroform is low down as to toxicity in Wal- 

 ler's list; it is at the top of the poisons of re lucta-ie. 



Once more, take the case of alcohol, a pi)ison to living 

 protoplasm. Protozoa dosed with alcohol are immobiliz^^d 

 and die; cilia are killed in water containia';- alcohol. By the 

 power it has to compromise the activity of the "vital" centres 

 in the Medulla Oblongata, that is hy interfering with the inner- 

 vation of respiratory and cardiac muscle, alcohol in sufficiently 

 high concentration is a poison; l)ut alcohol does not interfere 

 to the same serious extent with pe[)sin. a secretion enzyme. 



