[f. TOXIC + -ITY.] Toxic or poisonous quality, esp. in relation to its degree or strength.
1881. Nature, 3 Nov., 24/2. On the comparative toxicity of different metals, by M. Richet…. He named the limit of toxicity the quantity of poison per litre of water, allowing a fish to live more than forty-eight hours.
1881. Pharmaceut. Jrnl., 26 Nov., 439/2. Neither would there appear to be any relation between toxicity and chemical function, for although potassium and sodium are nearly allied…, the former is=-at least in respect to fish=-twenty-four times more poisonous than sodium.
1898. P. Manson, Trop. Diseases, xvii. 283. The microbes were increased in toxicity to a definite point.
