Ethanol at a dosage of 3 g/kg reduced body weight was injected i.v. into mongrel dogs resulting in a blood alcohol concentration of approximately 2.9 mg/ml. One hour after injection the dogs were anaesthetized with halothane-N20/02 and blood was withdrawn until the blood pressure was reduced to 40 mmHg. This usually required removal of about 30 - 40% of the total blood volume. The resulting haemorrhagic shock was ascertained by monitoring blood pH, pCO2, pO2, lactate, pyruvate and blood electrolytes. A blood specimen for enzymatic alcohol determination (ADH) was obtained every 30 min over a period of 3 hours. Compared with equally dosed controls the dogs in haemorrhagic shock showed a significant (p = 0.005) reduction of the blood alcohol decay rate (beta) which is explained by 1) the diminished blood flow through the liver and 2) the hypoxaemic metabolic situation in shock.

Five successive measurements of the peak expiratory flow rate have been made on a large number of children and adolescents in various age groups and both sexes. The predominant part of the increase in individual performance is already achieved during the first three trials. Besides, the maximum value of the five measurements apparently does not differ essentially from the mean value of the two or three highest measurements.

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New tables have recently been published containing (1) the usual percentiles of body weight and stature in each of the successive 6 months age groups, (2) two different age independent estimates of weight percentiles related to height, and (3) 50%, 80%, and 95% contours for the bivariate joint distribution of height and weight in each age group. All of the tables and charts are given for boys and girls separately. In view of the randomness of the sampling and the characteristic heterogeneity of the population concerned, these new normal limits may be declared valid not only for the entire Swiss area, but even for adjacent regions.

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