901 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[May 13, 1871. 
We do not say hydrate of sulphuric acid, or hy¬ 
drate of. hydrochloric acid, and in this case we shall 
save a good deal of nomenclature that is useless by 
calling it simply chloral. We heard yesterday, that 
the bees by taking a little honey from each flower 
gathered thirty millions of pounds. Every flower 
and every bee helps to make the aggregate. A cer¬ 
tain amount of nervous force is expended on every 
word we utter, and if we save this word now (and 
now is the time to start), it will save an aggregate 
of nervous force which, in the future, will amount to 
a great many lives. I do not believe in useless lan- 
guage, particularly where it can so well be avoided, 
and, therefore, think we had better call this from 
the beg innin g, simply chloral, although the other 
name is pretty generally used* 
The difficulties in the way of making chloral are 
very numerous. The apparatus I have now at work 
is about the tenth modification from the first one, 
and I started with all the knowledge on the subject 
then in the books. The liberation of chlorine from 
common salt and black oxide of manganese by run¬ 
ning sulphuric acid into it is easy enough, but unless 
the current be steady the result is imperfect, and 
there can be no good or definite calculations made 
as to the time or the quantity. The black oxide of 
manganese and common salt need both to be assayed 
and added together in their equivalent proportion, 
and then the calculated amount of sulphuric acid, in 
any given specimen is to be made upon its specific 
gravity, and the acid can only be added to the mix¬ 
ture by calculation, because, if added until chlorine 
ceases to be eliminated a great excess will be used. 
I mix 100 pounds of the mixture of black oxide of 
manganese and common salt with about ten gallons 
of water in a still, and then run seven gallons of 00° 
slowly into it, using “ pan acid,” 1562 specific gra¬ 
vity, using a mechanical stirrer, and heating the mix- 
■fnvA Tv* 4-1- -»*. ' ^ w 
jLii mis a tolerably uniform current of chlorine 
is eliminated. This is then conducted to the drying 
apparatus, which consists of a tliree-neck Woulfe’s 
bottle, with a long, narrow glass percolator ground 
into the middle neck. This percolator is filled with 
pieces of broken glass from which the fine particles 
have been sifted out, and into the top of this broken 
glass, concentrated sulphuric acid is supplied from 
an elevated reservoir. This acid percolates through 
the broken glass, and accumulates hi the Woulfe’s 
bottle below until it reaches the level of an adjusted 
siphon, by which it is discharged through one of the 
necks of the bottle. Through the third neck the 
chlorine enters by a tube which dips under the acid 
in the bottle. Thus the gas is made first to bubble 
through the acid in the bottle, and then to pass over 
the extended surface of broken glass in the tall per¬ 
colator, this surface being kept moistened with fresh 
portions of acid, and thus becomes thoroughly dried 
and in the proper condition to enter. the alcohol. 
The chlorine thus passed down into the alcohol at 
first increases the volume of the alcohol by one- 
fourth. At first, the whole of the bubbles of gas are 
absorbed, and the alcohol increases in volume and 
becomes heated, the bottle requiring to be kept cold; 
but after about three days the reaction between the 
chlorine and alcohol becomes more sluggish, and 
* Wlxile this note is being prepared for publication a 
serious mistake, bj abbreviating the words hydrate of chloral 
to “hyd. chlor.” in prescription, was corrected in time to 
avoid danger.—E. It. S. 
then a little heat in the bath is necessaiy. From 
that time the bath is made gradually warmer until 
the end of the process, which is determined by the 
gas pressing unchanged through the hot liquid in 
the bottles. The product is then the crude hydrate 
of chloral. Then if the contents of the bottles be 
allowed to cool, a large proportion crystallizes. It 
will not run from one part of the bottle to another, 
but still is very moist. This is taken in portions of 
about twenty pounds at a time and shaken up with 
six to eight pounds of strong sulphuric acid, the 
whole mixture poured into a tubulated retort and 
the chloral distilled off. This is received in a clean, 
dry vessel, is weighed, and then partially hydrated 
with a weighed quantity of water. . Carbonate of 
lime and slaked lime are then added in the propor¬ 
tion of four ounces to each twenty pounds, and the 
mixture is again distilled from a clean apparatus. 
The result of the distillation now is partially hy¬ 
drated chloral; it distils better partially hydrated 
than when hydrated entirely. The remainder of the 
water required by stoecliiometrical calculation is now 
added, and the hot liquid poured on plates to crys¬ 
tallize, the plates being covered by a bell-glass. In 
a few hours the crystallization is complete, and if 
well managed the contents of the plates are in a solid 
cake, which is rubbed into a coarse, damp powder in 
a clean mortar, and filled into bottles. 
I obtained from 16 gallons of absolute alcohol 
160 pounds of crude chloral, which, when purified, 
yielded about 125 pounds of purified hydrate of 
chloral. That is about the best yield I have yet 
obtained. I have now about 65 gallons in process 
all the time, by a series of baths, by which I expect 
to get 110 pounds, or thereabouts, every week, or 
every ten days; that is, each bath being of a different 
age, and being finished in about thirty days, will 
give one bath or nrecess everv — :n 
- ~ J ww~-. o. J_U VV i-Li. 
thus be seen that it is not a very profitable prepara¬ 
tion to make, particularly when made in competition 
with the German article, and I believe I should 
never have undertaken to make it, except for my 
conviction that it is the most important of all the 
additions to the materia medica for many years past, 
and very commonly sent to our market from abroad 
of bad quality, and without any traceable responsi¬ 
bility in regard to quality or make. 
Some accidents of an apparently trivial nature 
seemed to indicate that chloral is very liable to de¬ 
composition from contact with organic matter, but 
experiments have shown that it is not equally liable 
to this decomposition from all kinds of organic 
matter. Even the same kind of organic matter does 
not always produce the same effect with the same 
cliloral. For example, where syrup of orange-peel 
is used as a vehicle, decomposition, with the produc¬ 
tion of hydrochloric acid, will sometimes commence 
in a day or two, and sometimes not for weeks, 
though the apparent conditions be the same. One 
observer will testify that with simple syrup it never 
spoils or decomposes, while another, equally trust¬ 
worthy, will find the same chloral decompose with 
simple syrup very promptly. Under such circum¬ 
stances, the only safe practice is to keep clfloral as 
free as possible from all organic matter until we 
know more about it; and this particularly in view 
of the harm it does when given in even a partially 
decomposed solution. It appears to be by far the 
best practice to dispense it in simple watery solution 
in glass-stopped vials, since in this condition it keeps 
