78 
ON  CHLORAL. 
it  has  not  caused  any  accidents  in  the  dose  of  from  one  to  five 
grammes." 
Dr.  Demarquay  thinks  that  the  chloral  is  eliminated  through 
the  lungs,  and  states  that  the  breath  of  the  patient  smells  of 
it ;  he  does  not  agree  with  the  theory  of  Liebreich  that  it  is  split 
up  into  chloroform  and  formic  acid  in  the  blood,  but  admits  that 
it  is  the  most  rapid  of  all  soporifics. 
Dr.  Jules  Worms  arrives  at  the  following  conclusions  after 
conducting  a  series  of  experiments  with  the  hydrate  of  chloral. 
1.  Chloral  dissolved  in  ten  parts  of  water  can  be  drank  with- 
out any  inconvenience  to  the  amount  of  ten  grammes. 
2.  The  efi"ect  is  felt  with  IJ  to  2  grammes,  but  there  are  some 
obstinate  cases  which  require  a  dose  of  2  or  3  grammes. 
3.  A  calm  sleep,  often  profound,  during  which  there  is  no 
modification  in  the  temperature,  in  the  regularity  of  the  pulse 
or  of  the  respiration,  ensues  in  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  after  the 
digestion  of  the  chloral  and  continues  for  seven  or  eight  hours. 
The  waking  is  not  accompanied  by  headache  or  nausea  of  any 
kind  ;  there  may  be  some  dullness,  but  it  is  soon  dissipated.  It 
can  be  administered  before  or  after  meals,  and  exerts  no  influ- 
ence upon  digestion. 
To  sum  up  the  experience  of  Dr.  Worms,  the  hydrate  of 
chloral  appears  to  be  an  inoffensive  agent  in  small  doses,  and 
may  render  important  services  as  a  hypnotic.  In  fact,  the  prop- 
erty which  it  possesses  of  determining  sleep  almost  instantly  is 
not  possessed  by  any  other  agent  that  can  be  introduced  inter- 
nally. It  possesses  great  advantage  over  opium  and  its  deriva- 
tives in  the  rapidity  of  its  action  and  the  subsequent  freedom 
from  torpor  and  disagreeable  sensations. 
Trichloracetic  acid  was  discovered  by  Dumas,  in  1830,  and 
was  prepared  by  the  action  of  chlorine  on  acetic  acid.  It  crys- 
tallizes in  octahedra  and  deliquesces  in  the  air.  As  this  acid  is 
decomposed  by  alkalies  into  carbonic  acid  and  chloroform.  Dr. 
Liebreich  proposes  to  employ  it  as  a  substitute  for  chloral,  but  no 
account  of  his  experiments  is  available  to  us  at  this  present 
writing.  If  his  reasoning  were  to  hold  good  with  this  compound 
also  it  would  go  far  to  sustain  his  theory  in  reference  to  the 
splitting  up  of  chloral  and  the  local  action  of  chloroform.  The 
