384 CHLORAL HYDRATE 



t ravenously. But intravenous injection is .troublesome, 

 and attended with considerable danger. Cagny anaesthet- 

 ises horses by injecting hypodermically two to three grains 

 of morphine with a half to one grain atropine, and shortly 

 giving an enema containing eight drachms of chloral 

 hydrate. Anaesthesia occurs in about an hour, and is 

 maintained during operations by inhalation of ether or 

 chloroform. But the anaesthesia produced by chloral, 

 however administered, is neither so complete nor lasting as 

 that obtained by inhalation of chloroform. Equal parts of 

 chloral and camphor, mixed with six or eight parts of 

 vaseline or simple ointment, form an analgesic dressing 

 which relieves the pain of neuralgia and the itching of various 

 skin complaints. A diluted solution is sometimes applied 

 as an antiseptic stimulant to foul wounds. It should not 

 be prescribed where there is weak, irregular action of the 

 heart or congested lungs. 



Chloral hydrate resembles various other drugs. As a 

 hypnotic, it is allied to sulphonal, paraldehyde, and mor- 

 phine. Like bromides, it quiets excited cerebral centres. 

 For the relief of pain and spasm it is usefully conjoined both 

 with morphine and atropine. Although allied in composi- 

 tion to chloroform, it is not effective as a local anaesthetic, 

 and as it cannot be inhaled, general anaesthesia is produced 

 only when full doses are swallowed or injected into the 

 rectum, veins, or peritoneal cavity. In relieving spasm and 

 lowering arterial pressure it bears some resemblance to 

 amyl-nitrite. 



DOSES, etc. For horses and cattle, i. to ij. ; for sheep 

 and pigs, 3 SS - to 3*3 5 ^ or dogs, grs. v. to grs. xxx. ; cats, 

 grs. ij. to grs. xv., repeated every two or three hours, ad- 

 ministered in mucilage or syrup. Intratracheally, eight to 

 thirty grains in water may be injected as an antispasmodic ; 

 twenty to eighty grains in difficult parturition, and one 

 hundred and sixty grains in tetanus (Levi). For enemata 

 an ounce or two ounces mixed with mucilage may be used. 

 On account of its irritating in-contact effects, it should not 

 be used hypodermically. Continued use of the drug does 

 not establish tolerance, as in the case of alcohol or opium. 

 For relief of general irritability it is prescribed with bro- 



