etonitrile.
Other mice to whom no alcohol was fed were given similar doses of this
poison. In the first series the mice which had received alcohol died
from about one-half the quantity of acetonitrile required to kill those
which had not received alcohol. In the second series with a somewhat
stronger dilution the alcohol mice succumbed to one-half to one-third
the dose necessary to kill the non-alcoholized animals. In no case was
enough alcohol given for any symptoms of intoxication to appear, nor was
there any outward indication of any injury being done by the alcohol. In
another experiment a mouse was kept for four months on a diet of oats
soaked in water, then 0.5 milligram of acetonitrile per gram body weight
was injected. The mouse recovered. It was then fed on oats soaked in an
alcoholic solution which was gradually increased to 45 per cent. After a
little more than a month of this diet 0.2 milligram acetonitrile per
gram body weight proved fatal. The weight of the mouse had remained
about the same throughout.

Alcohol increased the susceptibility of the guinea pigs also.

Dr. Hunt says on page 33 of the bulletin:--

"These experiments with alcohol and acetonitrile are of interest
in another connection. The greatest advance in recent years in
our knowledge of the physiological action of alcohol has been
the clear demonstration that alcohol is oxidized in the body,
and may replace fats and carbohydrates and to a certain extent,
the proteids of an ordinary diet. So clear has been this
demonstration that the view that alcohol, in moderate amounts,
should be regarded as a food is almost universally accepted by
physiologists, and the drift of opinion is certainly toward the
view that it is in all respects strictly analogous to sugar and
fats, provided always that the amount used does not exceed that
easily oxidized by the body. Under these premises it would be
expected that alcohol in a diet would have the same effect upon
an animal's susceptibility to acetonitrile as has dextrose, for
example. This is by no means the case, however; on the contrary,
the action of these substances in this regard is entirely
different. Mice fed upon oats soaked in a solution of dextrose
or upon cakes containing considerable dextrose, or upon rice,
show a very distinct increase in their resistance to
acetonitrile; such mice may recover from two or three tim