318 INOBGANIC AGENTS 



be safely given intrajugularly ; one ounce dissolved in two 

 ounces of sterile water and repeated once in an hour if de- 

 sirable. If given in ball, the chloru,! may prove too irritating 

 in the digestive tract. It should be diluted at least 10 tmes, 

 and is given by the mouth with glycerin and water, or weak 

 syrup, or with boiled starch solution by the rectum. 



Uses External. — Chloral may be employed as a stimu- 

 lant, antiseptic, and slight local anaesthetic, in solution (1 to 

 4), upon ulcers and wounds. It may be used with an equal 

 part of camphor diluted with 8 parts of ointment, to relieve 

 itching. A 4 to 8 per cent, aqueous solution forms an 

 excellent antiseptic preservative for anatomical specimens, 

 and chloral may be added to urine for this purpose. 



Uses Internal. — Chloral is used for three purposes in 

 veterinary practice : 



1. First and foremost, to relieve spasm. 



2. To assuage pain. 



3. To procure sleep. 



In human medicine chloral is mainly employed as an 

 hypnotic, but a purely soporific action is rarely required for 

 the lower animals. The spasmodic conditions benefited by 

 chloral include colic, convulsions, chorea, epilepsy, asthma, 

 canine distemper, spasmodic cough, rigidity of the uterine 

 OS in the first stage of labor, hysteria, cerebritis (to relieve 

 motor excitement), tetanus, and strychnine poisoning. In 

 spasmodic colic, chloral is inferior to opium as an anodyne 

 but has the advantage of not inducing constipation. It may 

 be employed in colic, by the rectum, combined with mor- 

 phine given under the skin, as recommended for procuring 

 anaesthesia. It is the best remedy we possess for the treat- 

 ment of convulsions in dogs, apart from anaesthetics. Ether 

 may be administered during the convulsion, and chloral 

 simultaneously, or between the attacks, in gr.v.-xx., per 

 rectum, and repeated if necessary. Chloral is only indicated 

 in chorea when the movements are so severe that the animal 

 cannot secure sleep or rest. In distemper in dogs, chloral 

 is used for the same purpose, when there is excessive cough 



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