Abstract
1. Red squill preparations, administered per os to rats, induce convulsions and paralysis. There is no diarrhea, and an action on the circulation adds no significant contribution to the fatal result.
2. The technique of quantitative estimations of toxicity is discussed.
3. Individual variations of susceptibility of rats necessitate the use of considerable numbers of animals to determine the toxicity of red squill within 50 per cent. Ten times as many animals of a mixed stock, as of rats of a "genetically standardized" stock, are needed to achieve the same degree of accuracy.
4. Female rats succumb to doses of red squills, only one-half as great as those needed to kill males.
5. Abnormal previous diets, and exhibition of previous sublethal doses of the poison, have little influence on the susceptibility.
6. The average lethal dose of a red squill powder may be 50 per cent greater if it is less finely subdivided.
7. The rat-poisoning substance in red squills is relatively thermostable, soluble in water and in concentrations of alcohol and acetone up to 90 per cent. It is destroyed by boiling with dilute acid or alkali. It can be kept for long periods without appreciable deterioration.
Footnotes
- Received December 8, 1926.
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