644 
Chloretone. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
^     October,  1919. 
dose  of  the  chloretone  but  a  dose  large  enough  to  prolong  the  an- 
esthesia over  a  period  of  several  hours.  The  technic  for  such  work 
has  been  well  described  by  Rowe,8  for  while  there,  is  no  difficulty  in- 
volved, attempts  to  apply  this  method  of  anesthesia  have  not  always 
been  successful. 
As  a  Hypnotic  and  Sedative. — Another  very  common  use  made 
of  chloretone  is  to  allay  the  nausea  due  to  seasickness.  ■  This  is  prob- 
ably brought  about,  not  only  by  the  sedative  and  anesthetic  action  of 
the  drug  on  the  stomach  lining,  but  also  by  the  general  action  on  the 
central  nervous  system.  Autopsies  show  that  more  chloretone  is 
found  in  the  brain  than  in  any  other  organ  of  the  body,  which  is  a 
logical  finding  in  view  of  its  exceptional  efficiency  as  a  general  an- 
esthetic. While  it  is  a  highly  volatile  product,  it  appears  not  to  be 
eliminated  by  the  lungs  nor  as  such,  in  the  urine,  but  is  finally  de- 
composed as  shown  by  an  increase  in  the  chlorides.  Chloretone  is 
regarded  by  the  medical  profession  as  producing  the  closest  approx- 
imation to  natural  sleep  that  has  yet  been  discovered,  in  its  safety 
and  reliability  and  in  the  fact  that  no  unpleasant  after  effects  are 
experienced.  The  substance  is  carried  to  the  cerebral  tissue  and 
profound  sleep  occurs.  After  a  time  as  the  chloretone  is  gradually 
broken  up  and  carried  away  chemical  activity  is  renewed  in  the  brain 
cells  and  the  patient  awakes,  refreshed  as  from  natural  sleep. 
The  mode-  of  administration  seems  to  have  little  influence  on  its 
absorption,  for  animals  kept  in  an  atmosphere  saturated  with  va- 
porized chloretone  are  anesthetized,  in  time  almost  as  completely  as 
if  it  were  administered  internally. 
Insecticidal  Action. — This  action  of  the  vapor  suggested  its  use 
as  a  substitute  for  naphthalene  as  an  insecticide  for  clothes  moths. 
Experiments  were  carried  out  on  moths,  flies  and  mosquitos  which 
showed  that  for  the  latter  insect  chloretone  is  four  times  as  effective 
as  sulphur  fumes  and  almost  as  effective  as  the  latter  for  moths  and 
flies.  It  is  as  effective  for  moths  as  naphthalene  without  the  objec- 
tionable odor  of  the  latter.9 
In  these  experiments  weighed  quantities  of  the  substance  were 
vaporized  in  a  bell  jar  or  in  a  laboratory  hood  of  known  capacity 
and  the  condition  of  the  insects  or  animals  carefully  noted.  It  re- 
quires four  or  five  hours  to  anesthetize  guinea  pigs  and  it  is  neces- 
sary to  volatilize  the  chloretone  slowly,  carrying  the  vapors  in  with 
a  current  of  air.  For  insects  which  require  less  air  the  rapid  vola- 
tilization in  a  short  time  is  somewhat  more  effective  than  the  slower 
method  because  of  its  prompt  action. 
