ON THE CHEMICAL EFFECTS OF CHLORAL HYDRATE, ETC. 123 
lowing from my microscopical note-book :—“ August 22nd, 
1870.—Hydrate of chloral is a remarkable chemical sub¬ 
stance, producing a singular effect on the blood when applied 
directly to it. A small portion placed on a glass slide and 
slightly moistened, and then fluid blood added; about one 
third of the corpuscles appear to corrugate their solid contents, 
which then take colour from magenta/’ 
This was the first fact which attracted my notice: the red 
corpuscles of the blood, when acted upon by magenta, under 
ordinary circumstances pass out or give up their contents, 
which then become coloured by the dye. In this instance 
the dye penetrated the corpuscles, and coloured the material 
within them. 
This effect was sufficient to indicate to my mind the 
remarkable chemical action of hydrate of chloral; and having 
made a note *of it, I waited until this agent was within my 
reach for further experiment, for when I made this ob¬ 
servation I could only obtain a few grains of it for experi¬ 
mental purposes. 
In the following October I had occasion to administer it in 
small doses, with the view of relieving pain. This enabled 
me to examine the condition of the blood. The blood, 
drawn two or three hours after its exhibition, presented a 
remarkable appearance. In several parts of the field of the 
microscope, besides garnet-colonrecl amorphous particles, a num¬ 
ber of red-coloured globules (double the diameter of white 
corpuscles, and many smaller) were seen; some of these were 
dark red. This was experiment the first. 
Experiment 2.—Hydrate of chloral was exhibited by 
the stomach to a rabbit; within an hour red masses were 
seen in the blood, also the presence of starchy bodies was 
noticed. 
Experiment 3.—-A frog was subcutaneously injected with 
hydrate of chloral, with the same results. 
Experiment 4.—Frog immersed in a four-grain solution of 
the hydrate for some hours, when it was found hypnotic. 
Blood, nuclei of corpuscles appeared greenish, red particles 
also seen. 
Experiment 5. —Frog killed by hydrate of chloral, after 
some hours of sleep. Blood from heart decidedly tinged redder 
than usual; some corpuscles presented reddish dots on their 
surface; red-coloured masses were noticed all through the 
blood, as seen before. 
Experiment 6.—On self. Three grains of hydrate of chloral 
were taken about two hours after a meal; the blood was exa¬ 
mined every quarter of an hour; at the end of an hour it 
XLY. 9 
