250 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



to the United States Dispensatory, it informs us that a mixture of one part 

 of chloroform and two parts of nearly absolute alcohol is called " strong 

 chloric ether," and is used for inhalation ; and that in London, and elsewhere, 

 a weak tincture of chloroform is sold under the name of chloric ether, vary- 

 ing in strength from five or six to sixteen or eighteen per cent. Dr. 

 Thompson originally gave the name of "chloric ether" to the Dutch liquid 

 (Ci H4 Cb). In the commerce of this country there is a preparation that 

 goes by the name of chloric ether, consisting wholly or chiefly of chloroform 

 and alcohol, which, when mixed with water, does not separate. On inquir- 

 ing of Mr. William Weightman (of Powers and Weightman) what the 

 article prepared by them under this name was, he stated that their firm had 

 prepared it as they sold it for more than twenty-five years, since soon after 

 Mr. Outline's discovery of chloroform, which he called chloric ether. The 

 preparation sold by them is obtained by distilling together chloride of lime, 

 alcohol, and Avater, in the proportion of eight pounds av. of chloride of 

 lime to a gallon of alcohol and a suitable quantity of water, and distilling a 

 gallon of the " chloric ether." As chloride of lime, on the average, yields 

 from six to eight per cent of chloroform, it is fair to infer that this prepara- 

 tion does not contain more than eight per cent of that substance. It has 

 the following properties: It is colorless, has an agreeable, weak odor of 

 chloroform, a sweet, spic} r taste of chloroform, with a cooling after-impres- 

 sion, somewhat like that of peppermint. Its specific gravity is .892. When, 

 mixed with, water, in the proportion of one to twenty, it is at first cloudy, 

 and almost instantly becomes clear, with but little, if any, separation of 

 chloroform. It is this latter property that has caused it to be preferred by 

 some practitioners. That the proportion of chloroform in this preparation 

 varies is quite certain, as Mr. Weightman states that it is not always of such 

 composition as to mix with water without precipitation. It is quite inflam- 

 mable, and burns with a yellowish flame, tinged with bluish green. When 

 two fluid drachms of chloroform and fifteen fluid drachms of alcohol (ninety- 

 five per cent) are mixed, the mixture has a specific gravity approximating 

 closely to that of the above " chloric ether." Such a mixture contains 

 about sixteen per cent of chloroform, and when added to water is instantly 

 precipitated. Whether the specific gravity of the commercial article is due 

 partly to water, or whether the chloroform, is so intimately combined with 

 the alcohol in the process of making as to render the mixture stable in the 

 presence of water, has not been determined; but there is a marked difference 

 in the behavior of the liquids with an excess of water. William Procter, 

 Jr., American Journal of Pharmacy. 



EFFECTS OF CARBONIC ACID ON THE SKIN. 



According to a paper recently presented to the French Academy, on the 

 above subject, one of the most singular properties of carbonic acid is its 

 decided effect upon the skin. All parts of the body that come in contact 

 with it feel immediately an extraordinary increase of heat which is not 

 exhibited by the thermometer. A person placed in a room heated to 

 twenty degrees Centigrade, and plunging his naked arm into a receiver full 

 of carbonic acid gas, feels as though he had put his arm into something 

 fifteen or twenty degrees hotter than the air of the chamber. This property 

 lias been turned to account medically in thermal establishments where baths 

 and douches of the gas, sometimes pure and sometimes mixed, have been 



