173 
§§ 209, 210.1 MINOR ANAESTHETICS AND NARCOTICS. 
ether ; the ether on evaporation leaves oily drops of diethyl-acetic acid, 
which gives a red colour with dilute ferric chloride solution. Jorissen’s 
reaction is not very applicable to minute quantities, but answers with 
50 mgrms. 
Films of veronal obtained by sublimation are identified by the follow¬ 
ing micro-tests:—A solution of chloro-iodide of zinc added to the subli¬ 
mate gives an immediate precipitate of small, flat tabular crystals, 
grey to blackish red in colour. They are biaxial, strongly pleochroic, 
and have parallel extinction to the long axis. Hydriodic acid dissolves 
veronal sublimates, and after some time deposits large, flat red crystals, 
direct extinction, biaxial, red seen under crossed nicols. Bromide of 
potassium-(-bromine gives flesh-coloured needles and leaflets, strongly 
polarising, with direct extinction and strongly pleochroic; at the 
same time yellow crystals appear in groups. A veronal sublimate 
dissolved in ammoniacal copper solution and allowed to evaporate 
shows violet and pink monoclinic plates, biaxial, with oblique extinction. 1 
Veronal as a cause of death has figured considerably in the last few 
years. A reference to the table, ante , p. 27, shows that during the five 
years ending December 1916, 119 deaths from veronal poisoning occurred 
in England and Wales. Of these, 67 (38 males, 29 females) were due to 
accident or negligence; 52 (21 males, 31 females) were suicidal. 
VII. —Minor Anaesthetics and Narcotics. 
§ 209. When chlorine acts upon marsh-gas, the hydrogen can be displaced atom 
by atom ; and from the original methane (CH 4 ) can be successively obtained chloro- 
methane or methyl chloride (CH 3 C1), dichloromethane or methene dichloride, 
methylene dichloride (CH 2 C1 2 ), trichloromethane or chloroform (CHC1 3 ), already 
described, and carbon tetrachloride (CC1 4 ). All these are, more or less, capable of 
producing anaesthesia ; but none of them, save chloroform, are of any toxicological 
importance. 
§ 210. Pentane (C 5 H l2 ).—There are three isomers of pentane ; that which is 
used as an anaesthetic is normal pentane, CH 3 —CH 2 —CH 2 —CH 2 —CH 3 ; its boiling- 
point is 37-38°. It is one of the constituents of petroleum ether. 
Under the name of “ Pental ” it has been used in Continental hospitals-—for 
instance, at the Kaiser Friederich’s Children’s Hospital, Berlin. 2 It is stated to have 
no action on the heart. 
One death 3 has been recorded from its use :—A lad, aged 14, was put under pental 
for the purpose of having two molars painlessly extracted. He was only a minute 
or two insensible, and 4-5 grms. of pental was the quantity stated to have been in¬ 
haled. The boy spat out after the operation, then suddenly fainted and died. The 
post-mortem showed oedema of the lungs ; the right side of the heart was empty. 
The organs of the body smelled strongly of pental. 
1 A solution of veronal in dilute ammonia, when evaporated, yields long crystals 
with serrated edges, markedly differing from those yielded by trional and sulphonal 
under the same conditions (Ellis Richards, Analyst, 1919). 
2 Zeit. f. Kinderheilk., Bd. iii.-iv., 1893. 
3 Dr Bromine, Vierteljahrsschr. f. gerichtliche Medicin, Bd. v., 1893. 
