CHLOROFORM. 123 



Soubeiran determines the purity of chloroform by means 

 of a test liquid of 40°, or spec. grav. 1.35, made by mixing 

 equal parts of concentrated sulphuric acid and distilled water, 

 and allowing the whole to cool. One drop of chloroform poured 

 into this liquid will sink if it is free from alcohol. 



Bdttcher's process (Polytech. Notizbl. No. i.) is to distil to 

 dryness, in an iron retort, equal parts of acetate of soda and 

 chloride of lime. A large quantity of dilute acetone and but 

 little chloroform passes over. The distillate is then to be 

 mixed with chloride of lime and again distilled, and the same 

 process repeated a third time, in order to decompose the whole 

 of the acetone. The last distillate is to be rectified over 

 caustic lime. 



According to Soubeiran and Mialhe (Journ. de Pharm. 1849) 

 there are two kinds of chloroform in commerce. One, the 

 normal chloroform, prepared by the action of hypochlorite of 

 lime upon alcohol ; the other made from pyroxylic spirit in- 

 stead of alcohol. The latter [methylic chloroform), though 

 similar in appearance to the former, is less sweet, has a dif- 

 ferent odor, and produces nausea. Its spec. grav. is only 1,413, 

 and its boiling point much lower than true chloroform. These 

 discrepancies do not proceed from any actual difference in the 

 two liquids, but are owing to the presence of a peculiar chlo- 

 rinated oil, obtained in both instances, but readily separable 

 from the normal chloroform. It is to the presence of this 

 oil that the nausea and other ill effects of chloroform in certain 

 instances are attributable, and therefore methylic chloroform 

 is unfit for inhalation, it being impossible to remove all the 

 empyreuma from it. To separate it from normal chloroform, 

 the latter must be distilled, and the process stopped before the 

 end of the operation, in order to prevent the reproduction of 

 the mixture. 



When chloroform is poured upon a doubled sheet of bibu- 

 lous paper, one portion soaks through, and another, by ita 

 rapid evaporation, produces sufficient cold to congeal it into 

 crystals. 



AlcoJiol in Cliloroform. — Cattel detects the presence of al • 



