The reported actions of alcohol upon neural activity and function may be divided into metabolic and biological membrane effects. Furthermore, reports on the actions of anesthetics and acetaldehyde indicate that the former may manifest many of the membrane effects, while the latter may produce many of the metabolic effects seen with ethanol. By chronically exposing mice in a vapor chamber to ethanol, volatile anesthetic, acetaldehyde, or anesthetic plus acetaldehyde at appropriate blood levels, it is proposed to demonstrate whether the effects of ethanol can indeed be accounted for by the cooperative effects of acetaldehyde and anesthetic. If the effects of ethanol on mice can be reproduced in this manner, they will then be divided into five categories: 1) anesthetic effects, 2) acetaldehyde effects, 3) antagonistic, and 4) synergistic effects of acetaldehyde plus anesthetic, and 5) ethanol dependent effects. The particular effects of exposure to the various agents upon: 1) elicited convulsions, which is a behavioral measurement of dependence/withdrawal, 2) the levels and turnover rates of the biogenic amines: serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine, 3) brain ATPase activity, and 4) brain coenzyme A.