ON  CHLORAL. 
75 
distilled  at  a  gentle  heat.  It  is  sometimes  necessary  to  repeat 
this  operation  several  times,  and  finally  to  distil  over  quick  lime. 
This  is  a  long  and  tedious  process,  and  it  is  not  at  all  probable 
that  it  will  be  followed  on  a  large  scale  should  there  be  a  de- 
mand for  chloral  in  medicine.  The  action  of  chlorine  upon 
bodies  that  yield  alcohol  by  fermentation,  such  as  starch,  sugar, 
&c.,  will  be  tried,  and  even  wood,  after  it  has  been  treated  with 
sulphuric  acid,  might  afford  it  when  acted  upon  by  chlorine. 
Professor  Staedeler,  formerly  of  Gottingen,  now  of  Zurich, 
thought  of  the  possibility  of  such  a  reaction,  and  actually  suc- 
ceeded in  making  chloral  by  distilling  a  mixture  of  one  part  of 
starch  (or  sugar)  with  seven  parts  of  hydrochloric  acid  and  three 
parts  of  peroxide  of  manganese ;  formic  acid,  carbonic  acid  and 
other  bodies  accompanying  it.  Some  of  these  latter  methods 
may  eventually  prove  successful,  and  thus  enable  us  to  obtain 
chloral  at  a  cheap  rate.  At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Chemical 
Society  of  Berlin,  a  pound  of  chloral  hydrate  was  exhibited  by 
two  chemists,  Martins  and  Mendelssohn,  who  stated  that,  with 
the  co-operation  of  Dr.  Liebreich,  they  had  discovered  a  cheap 
and  easy  method  for  its  preparation,  but  they  refrained  from 
giving  the  method  because  they  were  not  through  with  the  re- 
search. We  also  understand  that  the  hydrate  is  offered  for  sale 
in  Berlin  for  about  a  dollar,  gold,  per  ounce.  As  a  dose  only 
consists  of  a  few  grains,  an  ounce  can  be  made  to  go  a  long  way, 
and  the  price  may  be  considered  very  moderate.  "We  can  hardly 
expect  to  procure  it  in  this  country  for  any  such  price  until  the 
demand  for  it  has  occasioned  the  discovery  of  cheap  methods  for 
its  manufacture.  We  are  sorry  not  to  be  able  to  give  more  defi- 
nite hints  in  reference  to  a  new  way  of  preparing  it,  but  we  feel 
confident  that  our  skillful  pharmaceutists  will  soon  be  able  to 
get  on  the  right  tract. 
We  now  propose  to  give  an  account  of  the  properties  of  chloral. 
It  is  a  limpid,  oily,  colorless  liquid  with  a  fatty  taste,  and  a 
strong  caustic  smell,  producing  lachrymation.  Its  specific  gravity 
is  1*502,  and  it  boils  at  95°C.,  and  can  be  distilled  unchanged. 
It  mixes  in  all  proportions  with  water,  also  with  ether  and 
alcohol.  It  dissolves  sulphur,  phosphorus,  bromine  and  iodine, 
and  combines  directly  with  water  to  form  a  hydrate.    A  little 
