Individual disposition plays in industrial poisoning a part which must not be under-estimated; it determines the possibility of acclimatisation to a poison; some individuals capable of resistance habituate themselves—often comparatively easily—to a poison, and become, up to a certain limit, immune against it, that is, they can tolerate a quantity which would be injurious to others not so accustomed. With other individuals, however, the opposite effect is apparent. Repeated exposure to the action of the poison leads to an increased susceptibility, so that acclimatisation is not possible. Innate hyper-sensitiveness of the individual towards a poison is called idiosyncrasy. Frequently, for example, this quality shows itself as hyper-sensitiveness of the skin towards the harmful action of certain poisons. A marked lowering in the sensitiveness, innate or acquired, of the organism towards a poison is called immunity. The possibility of the absorption and action of a poison presupposes—speaking generally—its solubility, and indeed its solubility in the body juices. In general, poison can be absorbed at very different points of the body; so far as industrial poisons are concerned, these are the mucous membrane of the respiratory passages, the mucous membrane of the digestive tract, and the skin, intact or broken. The rapidity of absorption depends on the nature of the poison, of the individual, and the channel of absorption. Of industrial poisons gases are relatively the most quickly absorbed; sometimes indeed so swiftly that the effect follows almost immediately. Elimination of industrial poisons is effected principally by the kidneys, the intestinal canal, the respiratory organs, and, more rarely, the skin. Rapidity of elimination also depends on the nature of the poison and of the person poisoned. If elimination is insufficient, or absorption takes place more quickly than excretion, the poison accumulates in the body, and has a cumulative effect which in chronic industrial poisonings plays a very important rôle. Under certain circumstances poisons are not thrown off, but stored up—fixed—in the body. The poison absorbed in the body can act unchanged from the place where it is stored. A number of poisons, however, undergo in the organism chemical change through which the action of the poison is partly lessened, rarely increased. Among such changes and weakening of the poison are: oxidation, as, for example, of organic poisons into their final products (carbonic acid, water, &c.), oxidation of benzene into phenol, oxidation of sulphur dioxide into sulphuric acid, &c.; reduction in the case of metals, peroxides, &c.; neutralisation of acids by alkaline juices; chemical union (for instance, of aromatic compounds with sulphuric acid). The splitting up of albuminous bodies is not of importance in regard to industrial poisons. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE TREATMENT OF INDUSTRIAL POISONINGS