178 Mr. S. B. Schryver. Investigations dealing with the 



If the above-named substances are arranged in the order of their capacity 

 for destroying a gel, the most potent being placed first in the list, the 

 following series will be obtained. 



Table II. 



Substances in decreasing order of gel- 

 destroying capacity. 



Critical narcotic concentration, 

 niols per litre (Overton). 





-0012 





0-02 





023 









0-019 









0-037 





0-038 



Isobutyl alcohol 



-045 





0-041 





0-27 





Oil 





0-13 





0-36 





0-3 



The order obtained for the gel-destroying power is not exactlj^ the same 

 as that found for the gel-inhibiting action described in the previous 

 communication. It was there mentioned that two substances, viz., methyl 

 propyl ketone and urethane, had a smaller gel-inhibiting action than ihey 

 should have, on the supposition that this property and the narcotic action 

 run parallel. These two substances in the above Table occupy almost the 

 correct positions if the assumption is made that gel-destruction and narcosis 

 are due to the same physical properties. One other substance of the 

 urethane series of compounds, viz., methyl carbaminate, has also a relatively 

 greater gel-destroying than gel-inhibiting power, and this is the only one in 

 which any marked deviation between the narcotic and gel-destroying powers 

 is demonstrated in the Table given above ; it should, if the parallelism 

 between these properties were complete, follow instead of precede the 

 propyl alcohols. In the Table given in the previous paper showing the 

 relationship between narcosis and gel inhibition it occupies the expected 

 position. The polyhydroxy-alcohols have but little action on the gel, and 

 they also exert small narcotic action. 



In spite of the one exception, the parallelism between the gel-destroying 

 and narcotic properties is striking. 



