556 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



duce death within a brief delay. The second method was selected for 

 experimentation. This amount was designated the true toxic equivalent. 



By experiment it was found that for the dog when an amount less 

 than 7.90 c.c. of commercially pure ethyl alcohol was given recovery fol- 

 lowed, at or above 8 c.c. per kilogram death ensued. For the dog, hence, 

 the true toxic equivalent was set as 7.95 c.c. (6.36 gr.). For the rabbit 

 from amounts lower than 7.50 c.c. all survived; from amounts above 

 7.80 c.c. all died. For the rabbit, therefore, 7.75 c.c. (6.20 gr.) per 

 kilogram was set as the true toxic equivalent. The average of 6.36 gr. 

 for the dog, while seemingly differing considerably from that (7.75 gr.) 

 found by Dujardin-Beaumetz and Audige is in fact in close accord 

 with it. 



If in the experiments of Dujardin-Beaumetz and Audige all animals 

 that died within three or four days are substituted for all animals that 

 died within 36 hours, the toxic equivalent for ethyl alcohol instead of 

 being 7.75 gr. increases to about 6 gr. per kilogram. This is in agree- 

 ment with what Lussana and Albertoni found, but it is slightly higher 

 than that given by Joffroy and Serveaux (6.36 gr.) in the perfected 

 method. 



The work by Joffroy and Serveaux on the true toxic equivalent of 

 methyl alcohol is most thorough. By the same procedure as for ethyl 

 alcohol they have shown that for the dog amounts above 9.10 c.c. pro- 

 duce death. They have, therefore, established as the true toxic equiva- 

 lent for the dog by intravenous injection 9 c.c. per kilogram. For the 

 rabbit this is 10.90 c.c. per kilogram. 



Two things of interest are made evident in the work on methyl alcohol. 

 These are: (1) That for the dog methyl alcohol is more toxic than for 

 the rabbit (the opposite was seen to be true for ethyl) ; (2) that for 

 both the dog and the rabbit it is less toxic than ethyl alcohol, and is 

 therefore in harmony with the law of Babuteau. 



From these various studies it is clear that alcohol in large quantities 

 is a poison capable of causing death, the most toxic being amyl and the 

 least toxic 5 methyl, and that the difference in the degree of toxicity fol- 

 lows the law of Babuteau : A substance (alcohol) is as toxic as its 

 molecular weight and boiling point are elevated. 



b This does not take into account the latent ill-effects on man shown to be 

 characteristic of methyl alcohol. 



