ALCOHOL FROM A SCIENTIFIC POINT OF VIEW 553 



The difficulties in the way of injection may now be considered more 

 fully. A lethal dose of alcohol injected into the stomach or under the 

 skin of an animal becomes lethal only after it has been absorbed into 

 and distributed by the blood stream. Hence the importance of know- 

 ing whether the alcohol is absorbed promptly so as not to undergo loss 

 or change in the tissues. In a word the rate of absorption must be 

 rapid. 



If also by injecting a lethal amount of alcohol under the skin or into 

 the muscles, serious secondary injuries, such, for example, as abscesses 

 and the like, result, a source of error is possible; for a dose of alcohol 

 under the toxic equivalent aided by these secondary influences might 

 thus produce death. 



It was evident to Joffroy and Serveaux that in order to prevent 

 errors arising from the rate of absorption and to reduce to lowest terms 

 the danger of secondary injuries, a method should be employed which 

 would insure that the entire amount of alcohol be in the blood at the 

 same time. This could be accomplished in only one way, that was by 

 adding the alcohol directly to the blood stream. They therefore turned 

 their attention to intravenous injections. 



While this method of adding the alcohol directly to the blood 

 stream would control the rate of absorption and largely allay secondary 

 injuries, yet it was found productive of errors the overcoming of which 

 was imperative to an accurate measure of toxicity. In the first place it 

 has been shown that if alcohol be injected too rapidly injuries both to 

 the veins and to the viscera arise. On the other hand, if it be added too 

 slowly, a loss of alcohol may occur through the kidneys and other ways 

 of elimination. 



The first problem of Joffroy and Serveaux was to find a way by 

 which the injection could be made at constant pressure. This was ac- 

 complished by substituting for the hypodermic syringe which had been 

 generally used the " flac-on de Mariotte." This gave a constant pressure 

 which was easily regulated at any time during the experiment. By in- 

 jecting one cubic centimeter per minute for each kilogram of body 

 weight they found no injury occurring either to the veins or to the 

 viscera. With this rate it was also found that the entire amount could 

 be injected before any considerable time had elapsed for elimination to 

 take place. 



With the error of rate of injection thus controlled they were ready to 

 try the measure of toxicity. A series on rabbits gave discouraging ex- 

 tremes varying from 4.32 to 12.18 cubic centimeters per kilogram neces- 

 sary to kill. 3 With variations so great as nearly 3 to 1 it was evident 



s The exact amounts were as follows: 4.32 c.c., 8.92, 7.26, 12.18, 6.35, 8.44, 

 4.90, 7.54 c.c. per kilogram. 

 vol. lxxxiii. — 38. 



