In his treatment of patients who have ingested a toxic substance, the physician usually knows the proper steps to take in his efforts to alleviate suffering and prevent death. This is especially true of those materials more commonly swallowed by mistake, accident, or with suicidal intent. Some substances have been so incompletely studied or are so infrequently ingested that too little is known, other than general procedure, of effective methods of therapy. This is true of ethylene dichloride, a colorless liquid that was first prepared by four Dutch chemists in 1795. The substance, called "Dutch liquid" by its originators, was used as an anesthetic more than 100 years ago. Largely replaced by better anesthetics, it is now utilized rather extensively in industry, particularly in manufacture of rubber and some insecticides. It is an excellent solvent and is used to a considerable extent in hobby-craft in occupational therapy (in the uniting