2 BULLETIN 915, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



sumed, one such bait for a rat of average size would amount to 600 

 or 800 mg. of the poison per kilo. Storer (19) reported that calcium 

 carbonate (whiting) protected rats and mice against barium carbon- 

 ate as well as lead carbonate poisoning. There is, however, some 

 uncertainty about these experiments, in the absence of definite 

 quantitative poison and food-intake data. 



An illustration of an old popular conception of the ideal rat poison 

 which was held by some investigators is found in the following trans- 

 lation by Boelter (4) from Raebiger (15) : "I have come to the con- 

 clusion that preparations which are really nonpoisonous are unable 

 to kill rats, and poisons, call them what you like, if they kill rats will 

 also kill domestic animals." Raebiger's results are in harmony with 

 all known facts, and demonstrate the fallacy of the conception of a 

 poison specific for rats. 



As the toxicity of barium salts to other animals is of interest both 

 to the user of barium rat baits and to the laboratory worker, a few 

 citations (Tables 1 and 2) on this point are quoted. 



Table 1. — Toxicity to various animals of barium chlorid administered subcutaneously. 



Animal. 



Salt. 



Sublethal 

 dose. 



Lethal dose. 



No. experi- 

 ments. 



Citation. 



Rat 



Do.. 

 Rabbit . . 



Do.. 



Do.. 

 Dog 



Do.. 



Do.. 



Do.. 



Cat 



Chicken . 

 Pigeon . . 



Do.. 



BaCl, 

 ...do. 

 ...do. 

 ...do. 

 ...do. 

 ...do. 

 ...do. 

 ...do. 

 ...do. 

 ...do. 

 ...do. 

 ...do. 

 ...do. 



Mg. per kilo. 

 35 



40(?) 



20 and 46. . . . 

 40to.50 



6 and 10.... 

 4.5 to 14.3... 

 15 



40(?) 



to. 



Mg. prr liilo. 



45 toS9 



60 



50 to 75 



50 up 



40 to 60...:. 



10tol5 



15 and 17.... I 2 



15 to 20 5 



9.1 and 14.3 .. 2 



18 to 60 5 



50 and 80 3 



80 up 



60 1 



Many . 



1 



5 



Many. 

 5 



Table 4 (p. 4). 

 Bary (3). 



Do. 

 Maurel (10). 

 Kissner (8). 

 Alov and Cournet (1). 

 Schedel (17). 

 Bary (3). 



Pilliet and Malbec (14). 

 Bary (3). 



Do. 

 Maurel (10). 

 Bary (3). 



Table 2. — Toxicity to various animals of barium salts administered per os. 



Animal . 



Weight. 



Barium salt. 



Absolute 

 dose. 



Dose per 

 kilo. 



Result. 



Citation. 



Rat 



Kilo. 



BaCl 2 



Grams. 



Grams. 

 0.355 to 0.533 



.170 



.300 



.170 



Fatal 



Table 5 (p. 4). 

 Crawford (6). 



Do. 

 Bary (3). 

 Dieckerhoff (7). 



Rabbitt. . . 

 Do 



1.177 



1.800 



Ba(C 2 H3 0) 2 . 

 BaCl ? . 



0.200 



.500 



do 



do 



.. .do 





do 



4.000 





Survived 



Fatal 



Do 





.do 



6.000 





Do. 



Cattle 





....do 



40.000... 





Survived 



Survived; thera- 

 peutic. 



Fatal, with local 

 effects in 

 stomach from 

 two boli. 



Fatal 



Do. 







....do 



8.000 to 



12.000. 

 i 15.000 



.720 to .900.. 





Do. 



Do 





do 



.033 



.090 



.500 



Reynolds (16). 



Dog 



8.000 to 

 10.000. 



do 



do 





Survived 2 



Fatal 



net (1). 

 Maurel (10). 







BaC0 3 



BaCl, 



.do 



1.333 



White (20). 







38.6 





Fatal in 10 hours 

 Fatal 



Stern (18). 



Do . 





3.9 





Am. Med. Assoc. 















(2). 



1 Dose per 1,000 pounds of horse weight. 



2 Vomited. 



3 A. P. Chadbourne (personal communication) found that the lowest fatal dose of barium chlorid for 

 man was that reported by Stern. Approximately 8.6 grams were fatal in 10 hours. In view of the prox- 

 imity of the fatal and therapeutic doses reported (2), the fatal dose therein given would seem to be rather 

 small. 



