In the majority of methods for investigating preservatives for wood-destroying fungi their toxicity is assessed by determining what is called the "limiting dose". This normally denotes a range of preservative solution concentrations or retentions of dry preservative in the timber, the lower value serving to indicate the amount of preservative at which is observed the expected effect, e.g. the growth of fungus round the timber or the destruction of the timber by the fungus, while the higher value is regarded as the minimum amount of preservative at which the expected effect is not observed. The limiting dose is regarded as a criterion for assessing the toxicity of the preservative and is used when comparing different preservatives for toxicity to a particular species of fungus, and also for characterizing the sensitivity of the different species and strains of fungi to the particular kind of preservative.

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