Scientific Proceedings. 



155 



that should be given is about o. 1 gram. In larger doses diuretin 

 itself is liable to become toxic. 



In cases in which the dose of the magnesium salts exceeded 

 2 grams per kilo the injection of diuretin alone could not save the 

 animals. But if in addition to the diuretin an intravenous infusion 

 of 0.9 percent, solution of sodium chloride was instituted, animals 

 were seen to recover even from doses of magnesium salts amount- 

 ing to as much as 2.25 grams per kilo. When still larger doses of 

 magnesium salts were given the animals usually died of respiratory- 

 paralysis in less than fifteen minutes and before any diuresis could 

 have been effected. However, I have seen animals recover even 

 from doses of 2.5 grams per kilo if, in addition to the diuretin in- 

 jection and the venous transfusion, artificial respiration was early 

 resorted to. For doses larger than 2.5 grams per kilo all three 

 measures together usually proved of no avail ; with this dose the 

 early death of the animal is usually due greatly to paralysis of the 

 heart. 



108 (251) 



The toxicity of magnesium nitrate when given by mouth. 



By S. J. MELTZER. 



\_From the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.'] 

 It is a daily experience that large doses of magnesium sulphate 

 can be taken by mouth without any other than a purgative effect. 

 I have given to rabbits, by mouth, 7 grams or more of magnesium 

 sulphate (in molecular solution) per kilo, without any unfavorable 

 effects. The same applies also to magnesium chloride and some 

 other magnesium salts. I have, however, discovered that magne- 

 sium nitrate when given by mouth is capable of producing a toxic 

 effect like that of magnesium salts v/hen introduced subcutaneously. 



When a dose of 6 grams per kilo in molecular solution is given 

 by mouth to a rabbit, the animal soon becomes paralyzed and 

 narcotized and dies in thirty or forty minutes of respiratory 

 paralysis. Fifteen or twenty minutes after the administration, the 

 appearance and behavior of the animal is exactly like that of one 

 which received magnesium sulphate subcutaneously (2 grams per 

 kilo). A dose between 4 and 5 grams per kilo causes in general 



