Percutaneous Toxicity of Solvents

The method used for the study of percutaneous toxicity proved capable of differentiating between different types of solvents and between different applied volumes of the same solvent. Thus none of the 20 animals exposed, respectively, to benzene and toluene died, although their increase in weight was slower (0.01 <P <0.05) than that of the controls (distilled water). On application of 0.5 and 2.0 ml 1,1,2-trichloroethane to two groups all animals died within 3 days, whereas only 5 of 20 animals died after 0.25 ml. The increase of weight for the 15 survivors was slower than that of the controls (0.01 <P <0.05). The mean time to death after intraperitoneal injection of 1,1,2-trichloroethane diminished with rising volume.