Abstract
The following observations were made as part of a study of the cause of death in nicotin poisoning in dogs. Sollmann 1 mentions that 2 drops of nicotin placed on the gums of a dog may rapidly cause death. Blake 2 injected 2 drops of nicotin into the jugular vein of a dog, death occurring about one minute and a half after the administration of the poison.
At the time we carried out our experiments we were not aware of any reports in the literature dealing with the minimal fatal dose of nicotin for dogs. von Anrep 3 reports that 1.5 drops of nicotin is a dangerous dose and 3.5 drops is fatal in a few minutes, for dogs weighing from 10 to 17 kg. Expressed in mg. of nicotin per kg. of dog's weight, the dangerous dose would be approximately 5.7 to 9.75 mg. per kg. and a dose of 13.4 to 22.75 mg. per kg. would be fatal in a few minutes. Kobert 4 places the minimal fatal dose at 0.5 to 2 drops of nicotin.
Nicotin was administered to 48 dogs. In a majority of the experiments no drug other than nicotin was given. In a few cases a small amount of novocain was used to produce local anesthesia for the exposure of a vein or artery. In some the blood pressure was recorded, but without the use of any anticoagulant. Neither the minor operative procedures nor the local anesthetic had any observable influence on the results.
Three methods of administering the drug were used: 1. By mouth. Nicotin was dropped on the tongue or between the lips and gums in the form of the undiluted alkaloid. 2. By injection into the circulating blood.
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