BULLETIN 915, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGMCULTUKE. 



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 v/as held by some investigators is found in the following trans- 

 lation by Boelter (4) from Kaebiger (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." Kaebiger' 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 



BaClo 



...do." 



...do 



Mg. per kilo. 

 35 



Mg. per kilo. 



45 to 89 



60 



50 to 75 



50 up 



40 to 60 



10 to 15 



Many 



1 



5 



Table 4 (p. 4). 

 Bary (3). 

 Do. 



Do 



40(?) 



20 and 46 



40 to 50 



Do 



...do 



Many 



Maurel (10). 



Do 



...do 



Kissner (8). 



Aloy and Cournet (1). 



Schedel (17). 



Dog 



Do 



...do 



...do 









15 and 17 



15 to 20 



9.1 and 14.3.. 



18 to 60 



50 and 80 



80 up 



2 



Da 



...do 



...do 



...do 



...do...... 



...do 



...do 



6 and 10 



4.5 to 14.3.... 



15 



40(?) 



75 



5 



Bary (3). 



Pilliet and Malbec (14). 



Bary (3). 



Do. 

 Maurel (10). 



Do 



Cat 





Chicken 



Pigeon 



Do 



3 



60 



1 



Bary (3). 



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



Animal. 



Weight. 



Barium salt. 



Absolute 

 dose. 



™%2~ R "** 



Citation. 



Rat 



Kilo. 



BaCl 2 



Grams. 



Grams. 



0.355 to 0.533 Fatal 



.170 do 



.300 do 



.170 do. 



Table 5 (p. 4). 



Rabbitt. . . 

 Do 



1.177 



1.630 



Ba(C 2 H 3 0) 2 . 



0.200 



.500 



Crawford (6). 

 Do. 



Do . 



1.800 



BaCl 2 



Bary (3). 





do 



4.000 





Survived 



Fatal 



Dieckerhoff (7). 



Do . 





.do 



6.000 





Do. 



Cattle 





....do 



40.000 





Survived 



Survived; thera- 

 peutic. 



Fatal, with local 

 effects in 

 stomach from 

 two boli. 



Fatal 



Do. 





8.000 to 

 10.000. 



do 



do 



do 



do 



8.000 to 



12.000. 

 i 15.000 



.720 to .900.. 





Do. 



Do.... 

 Dog 



.033 



.090 



.500 



Reynolds (16). 

 Aloy and Cour- 



Survived 2 



Fatal 



net (1). 

 Maurel (10). 







BaC0 3 



BaCl 2 



do 



1.333 



White (20). 







3 8.6 





Fatal in 10 hours 



Stern (18). 



Do.... 



:::;:::::::::: 



3.9 





Fatal 



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. 



