150 
CHLORAL, A NEW HYPNOTIC AND ANiESTIIETIC. 
slipped basket is fastened over it, a short distance above ground, by means of 
which it can be the more easily guided into any one of the numerous vats and 
coolers waiting to receive it. 
The muddy liquid mixture is drained off into large tubs holding about 150 
gallons each. Upon cooling, the very impure acid crystallizes round the sides 
of the tub, whence it is afterwards removed to be purified. 
From 2688 to 3253 casks of commercially pure boracic acid are sent away 
from this place yearly, each cask weighing on au average 300 kilos. At 
a rough calculation this would give us 1,893,900 kilos, or 1691 tons, as 
the quantity annually sent into the market from this one source. As there 
are five other sources in various parts of the mountains, all of them in 
full action, and two or three much larger than the one I have seen, the sum 
total would amount to, at least, 10,500 tons collected per annum. I say “at 
least,” for I have put the average lower than it really is, and I have also sup¬ 
posed that each spring gave the same average; instead of which, two or three 
of them, as I have said before, are much larger than the others. Three 
thousand men and boys in all, are employed in the works, the men with their 
families forming a village by themselves a short distauce away from the springs. 
Each village, too, is perfect in its way, finding its own church, etc., and having 
manufactories of cloth, paper, tools, etc. Almost everything, in fact, is home 
made, and, as a rule, by no means badly made. Should any of my “brother chips’' 
ever find themselves at Florence, I would strongly recommend a visit to one of 
these interesting places. They will be amply repaid their extra trouble and expense. 
At the first glimpse of the spring it appears very like a small volcano in 
full eruption. The flames are wanting, it is true, but everything else is there ; 
the peculiar cone-like appearance of the wells, with their seething, bubbling 
contents, and the volumes of steam and gases which issue from the ground in 
every direction, accompanied by the peculiar rumbling sound which is always 
to be heard there, all combine to produce an effect upon the visitor which is not 
soon forgotten. 
Apologizing for the length to which I have drawn my jottings, I remain, 
yours truly, 
Florence, August 19, 1869. W. B. 
CHLORAL, A NEW HYPNOTIC AND ANAESTHETIC. 
Dr. Oscar Liebreich, Teacher of Therapeutics and Medical Chemistry in 
the University of Berlin, has recently communicated to the Medical Society 
of that city the result of some experiments on the administration of chloral 
to man and animals. 
Chloral was discovered about thirty years ago by Liebig, who formed it by 
the treatment of absolute alcohol with dry chlorine gas* In an anhydrous 
state, it is a colourless volatile liquid, emitting a vapour very irritating to 
the eyes, having a sp. gr. 1-502 and boiling at 202° Fahr. Its composition is 
represented by the formula C 4 Cl 3 H0 2 , or C 2 C1 3 H O. When exposed to 
moist air, it becomes converted into a crystalline substance, which is a hydrate 
of chloral. The same substance also results when anhydrous chloral is di¬ 
rectly mixed with a small proportion of water. 
Hydrate of chloral is soluble in water in all proportions. It is unchanged 
by acids, but when treated with an alkali, is immediately decomposed into 
chloroform and formic acid. It is this property of setting free chloroform in 
the presence of an alkali, that has led Dr. Liebreich to consider whether 
chloral might not be used with advantage as a remedial agent. Most of the 
* Gmelin’s ‘ Chemistry,’ vol. ix. p. 200. 
