CHLOROFORM 



1360 



CHOCOLATE 



the important compounds of chlorine are 

 hydrochloric acid, chloride of lime, chlorate 

 of potash and chloroform. Bleaching powder, 

 or chloride of lime, is manufactured by placing 

 slaked lime in a closed chamber and passing 

 chlorine gas in. The lime absorbs and com- 

 bines with the gas, whence the name of the 

 product, chloride of lime. Chloride of lime 

 is used extensively in cotton mills as a bleach- 

 ing agent, and it is also used as a disinfectant 

 and deodorant. See BLEACHING. J.F.S. 



CHLOROFORM, klo'rojorm, a powerful 

 drug, now in wide use as an anesthetic. It 

 was discovered at about the same time (1831) 

 by three chemists, Samuel Guthrie of America, 

 Liebig of Germany, and Soubeiran of France, 

 each of whom worked independently of the 

 others. The anesthetic value of the drug was 

 brought to the general attention of the public 

 in 1848 by Sir James Simpson of Edinburgh. 



Chloroform is a heavy, colorless liquid, with 

 a pungent odor and a sweetish taste. It dis- 

 solves freely in alcohol and ether, but does 

 not mix with water. Besides being used in 

 medicine, it is employed by chemists as a 

 solvent for fats, alkaloids, iodine and other 

 substances. Medicinally it is of great value. 

 Preparations of the drug are often used to 

 disguise the taste of offensive medicines, and 

 externally it is used as a liniment in chronic 

 rheumatism and neuralgia and as a local anes- 

 thetic for toothache due to ulceration. It is 

 also employed as an antidote for strychnine 

 poisoning and as a remedy for spasms in cases 

 of lockjaw and hydrophobia. 



When inhaled in small quantities chloroform 

 deadens or abolishes the sense of pain, and 

 larger doses render the patient unconscious. 

 Though ether is considered the safer anes- 

 thetic, records show that no more than one 

 death in 3,000 occurs through the use of chloro- 

 form in operations. It must never be em- 

 ployed, however, except under the direction 

 of a competent physician. See ANESTHETIC: 

 ETHER. W.A.E. 



CHLOROPHYLL, klo'rofil, the green color- 

 ing matter of plants, which does for them, in 

 a way, what gastric juice in the stomach does 

 for man. As gastric juice changes our food into 

 elements that can be assimilated, so, too, does 

 chlorophyll in plants. By absorbing the light 

 it gets the energy to break into two parts the 

 carbonic acid gas taken in by the leaves, 

 returning one part, the oxygen, to the air, and 

 keeping the carbon, which, mixed with the 

 water the roots drink, makes starch. Starch 



can be formed by leaves only in the presence 

 of light. Hence, leaves which are deprived of 

 light will bleach, or turn white. See ETIOLA- 

 TION. 



CHOATE, chute, the family name of two 

 American public men who won distinction in 

 law and statesmanship. 



Rufus Choate (1799-1859), one of the ablest 

 lawyers America has ever produced and an elo- 

 quent and scholarly public speaker, was born 

 at Ipswich, Mass. He was graduated at Dart- 

 mouth College in 1819 at the head of his 

 class, and after studying law was admitted to 

 the Massachusetts bar in 1823. He. served in 

 the House of Representatives from 1830 to 

 1834, and in the Senate from 1841 to 1845, and 

 in the upper house won wide public notice be- 

 cause of his brilliant speeches on the tariff, the 

 Oregon boundary and Texan annexation. His 

 orations and addresses are distinguished for 

 learning, purity of style, and grace and ele- 

 gance of form. 



Joseph Hodges Choate (1832-1917), the 

 nephew of Rufus Choate, was born at Salem, 

 Mass., and educated at Harvard College. Ad- 

 mitted to the New York bar in J865, he soon 

 became one of the best-known lawyers of New 

 York City, and 

 was employed in 

 such famous cases 

 as the income tax 

 and the Tweed 

 Ring suits (see 

 TWEED, WILLIAM 

 MARCY ) . He won 

 greatest repute as 

 a cross-examiner. 

 On the organiza- 

 tion of the Re- 

 publican party in 

 1856 he adopted its political principles, though 

 he never held a political office until 1899, when 

 President McKinley appointed him to succeed 

 John Hay as ambassador to Great Britain. In 

 this position he strengthened the friendly rela- 

 tions between the two English-speaking na- 

 tions. In 1905 he returned to his practice in 

 New York, and two years later represented the 

 United States at the second Peace Congress 

 at The Hague. 



CHOCOLATE, chock' o late, a valuable food 

 preparation made from the kernels of the 

 cacao tree, which appears on the market in the 

 form of smooth, shining dark brown cakes, 

 used in making a delicious beverage, in con- 

 fectionery and variously in cooking. The cacao 



JOSEPH CHOATE 



