278 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



noss, like the latter. It is absorbed, and not inhaled, and in this 

 respect difters from other anoBsthetics. Wlien liquid ammonia is 

 adiied to a solution of this body, ehloroft)rm is precipitated. 



Chloral. — At the 18G9 meeting of the British Association, Dr. 

 Richardson said that chloral had been introduced by Liebig, in 

 1832 ; and it occurred to his assistant at the Academy in Berlin, 

 who suggested that, as chloral had its chloroform set free by the 

 action of an alkali, the introduction of it into contact with the al- 

 kali contained in the blood might suggest a means of using it for 

 the purpose of obtaining insensibility in animals, without some of 

 the disadvantages of taking chloroform into the stomach. Dr. 

 Richardson gave a detailed statement of the nature of chloral, a 

 specimen of which had been sent him by Mr. Hanburg, who had 

 received it from Liebig ; and he also described some experiments 

 made with chloral. In pigeons, he had found chloral produce 

 sleep and insensibility, lasting from 4 to 5 hours, by the use of 

 from one and a half to two grains of chloral, and that above that 

 quantity would kill. This had been applied both by injection and 

 in the stomach. He had found, as a result of his experiments, 

 that perfect insensibility could not be produced unless the dose 

 w\as increased to a dangerous extent. Dr. Richardson gave de- 

 tailed accounts of experiments with chloral upon j)igeons, rabbits, 

 and frogs, in 23 separate cases, and also carried on some with 

 pigeons in the room. Dr. Richardson was not of opinion that 

 chloral could be used instead of any of the present anaesthetic 

 agents. It produced vomiting, and reduced the temperature of 

 the body. It had some of the disadvantages of opium, and was 

 no better, in many other respects, than that article. Still, they 

 siiould be grateful to Liol)ig, as there might be considerable col- 

 lateral benelit in suggesting a means for searching for advantages 

 which might be obtained by the decomposition of medicines in 

 the l)ody. 



[It has since been found of considerable advantage as a sedative 

 in many diseases.] — Ed. 



ACTION OF POISONS. 



Poison of {he Copperhead Snake. — Experiments on the poison of 

 the cobra-de-capello, made by Dr. Halford, are given in the " An- 

 nual of Scientihc Discovery" for 18G8, p. 255; in the volume for 

 18G9, on the rattlesnake poison, p. 30G ; and more recent observa- 

 tions on the effects of the bite of the American copperhead have been 

 made by Dr. Joseph Jones, of New York. Dogs were subjected to 

 its bite, sometimes with, and sometimes without, fatal results; the 

 blood was examined carefully under the microscope, and in the 

 fatal cases post-mortem examinations were made. "Thousands 

 of small acicular crystals were mingled with the altered blood- 

 corpuscles; and, as the l)loody serum and effused blood dried, the 

 blood-corpuscles seemed to be transformed into crystalline masses, 

 shooting out into crystals of hcTmatin in all directions. The blood- 

 vessels of the brain were filled with gelatinous coagulable blood. 



