134 



Scientific Proceedings (92). 



In Loeb's colloid studies it was a transfer from NaCl to more 

 dilute NaCl or water which produced a marked increase in swelling. 

 In the case of the viability of the bacteria it is a transfer from 

 CaCU to a very dilute solution which causes a profound effect. 

 Whether the death of the bacteria in the latter case is due to the 

 fact that compounds are formed in the cell wall or protoplasm 

 which hinder the elimination of toxic waste products of cell 

 metabolism or whether such compounds favor the ingress of water 

 which causes deadly hydrolyses (which Phelps has suggested as 

 the lethal factor in similar cases), or whether such compounds 

 favor the loss of necessary constituents of the cell to the water 

 outside, we are not prepared to say. Experiments are now being 

 conducted to throw light upon this point. It seems clear in any 

 case from the conditions of the experiment that the effect is not 

 due to any direct toxicity of the salt but to some change which it 

 produces in the rate of exchange between the inside of the cell and 

 its environment. 



188 (1366) 



Experimental tri-nitro-toluene poisoning. 

 By Rudolph Kramer and Harold Meierhof (by invitation). 



[From the Pathological Department, College of Physicians and 



Surgeons.] 



In an attempt to produce experimentally in dogs a state of 

 poisoning by tri-nitro-toluene analogous to the condition recently 

 observed among munition workers in England and America, the 

 following methods of administering the poison have been em- 

 ployed: (1) Feeding by mouth (TNT in butter) ; (2) skin inunction 

 (TNT in lard) ; (3) subcutaneous injections (TNT in olive oil) ; 

 (4) intravenous injections (TNT in acetone) ; (5) intraperitoneal 

 injections (TNT in albolene). Only the first three methods have 

 proven satisfactory. Intravenous injection of any considerable 

 quantity of an acetone solution causes immediate death, probably 

 from a precipitation of the TNT in the blood stream, and conse- 

 quent pulmonary embolism. The toxic action of the acetone, too, 

 may be a factor. Negative results with intraperitoneal injections 

 of an albolene solution were probably due to faulty absorption. 



