CHLORALUM.
Chloralum hydratum crystallisatum, Hydrate of Chloral. Formula, C2HCl3O+H2O.
Preparations
, Triturations.
Authorities.
1, Dr. W.
Eggert, proving with 72 grains on a lady, Hahn. Month., 6, 22; 2,
ibid., proving with 30 and 55 grains; 3, Dr. S. Swan,
proving with repeated doses of the 200th dil., Med. Invest., 9, 547; 4, Dr. D. A. Babcock’s provings, Inaug. Thesis, N. Y. Hom. Med.
Coll., 1874, 6th dec. trit., frequently repeated doses; 5,
ibid., proving with 15 grains crude drug; 6, ibid.,
proving with 1/10th, repeated doses; 7, ibid., proving
with 2 grains crude; 8, ibid., proving on G. A. T.; 9, ibid., proving on P. H. M.; 10,
ibid., proving on Mr. B.; 11, ibid., proving on Mr. B.
with 6th dil.; 12, ibid., proving on Miss R. with 15th
trit.; 13, J. B. Andrews, experiments, Am. J. of
Insanity, July, 1871; 14, F. E. Anstie, cases of
poisoning, Practitioner, 12, 104; 15, Crichton Browne,
effects on patients, Practitioner, June, 1873; 16, Dyce
Brown, action on skin of 5 grains, thrice daily, in hooping-cough, Month. Hom. Rev., 15,
347; 17, ibid., effects of 10 grains, thrice daily, in a
young lady; 18, E. T. Blake, effects of ordinary doses,
B. J. of Hom., 1871; 19, Dr. Cairns, proving, 1 drachm
(first night), 2 drachms (second night), 3 drachms (third night), Ed. Med. Jour., 1870, p.
375; 20, Dr. Curshman, effect on larynx in a patient,
Practitioner, June, 1873, p. 364; 21, H. Derby,
experience, with doses of 30 to 75 grains, in eye and ear infirmary, Bost. Med. and Surg.
J., Dec. 1869; 22, Geo. Dabbs, effect of 20 grains,
taken twice in half an hour, Med. Times and Gaz., 1870, p. 435; 23,
Drasche, effects on a man with fracture of lower leg, Monograph on Chloral, 1869 (A. H. Z.,
M. B., 21, 15); 24, ibid., effects of half a drachm; 25, ibid., effect of 40 grains; 26,
ibid., effect of 45 grains; 27, effect of 2 scruples in
a student, ibid.; 28, G. S. Elliott, effect of 40-grain
doses on self, taken experimentally, Lancet, 1870, p. 786; 29,
G. T. Elliott, chronic effects of at least 200 grains every twenty-four hours for months,
Lancet, May, 1873; 30, A. Fraser, effect on conjunctiva
of 30 grains daily, Month. H. Rev., 15, 347; 31,
Husband, effect on skin of 20-grain doses daily for eight days, and then 30-grain doses
twice daily for 5 days, Practitioner, June, 1873; 32,
Kirn, effect in patients, Practitioner, June, 1873; 33,
Levinstein, poisoning by 4 drachms (Wien Med. Clin.), N. Y. J. of H., 2, 344; 34, H. J. Manning, effects on a monomaniac, Lancet, May, 1873; 35, R. J. McKay, tox. by 5 drachms in four hours, N. Y. Med.
Rec., 1870, p. 284; 36, Wm. K. Murphy, chronic effects
on female with affection fo bladder (20 grains at night, and finally 150 grains a day for
six months), Lancet, August, 1873; 37, ibid., effects on
sleepless female of 40 grains at bedtime, increasing by 20 grains to 120 grains in twelve
hours for four months; 38, ibid., on sleepless female,
60 to 70 grains a day for two years; 39, ibid., on
sleepless young man, taken from a bottle “by guess” for eighteen months; 40, Nicol and Mossop, observation with the ophthalmoscope on
selves, after 10 grains to a drachm, Br. and F. Med.-Chir. Rev., July, 1872; 41, J. Fred. Plumley, general effects, Lancet, Feb. 1870; 42, Thos. S. Ralph, microscopic appearance of blood after small
doses, Month. Mic. Journ., 6, 78; 43, J. V. Laborde,
Archiv., Gén. d. Méd., Dec. 1869, effects on healthy men of progressive doses of 1 to 2
grammes daily; 44, J. Russell Reynolds, tox. from 10
grains, increased to 50 or 60, N. Am. J. of H., N. S., 5, 115; 45,
O. H. Leeds, tox. from doses of 20 grains, Am. J. M. S., Jan. 1872; 46,
N. R. Smith. Bost. M. and S. J., 1871 (affection of skin); 47,
Dr. Snell, tox. from solution of 1 ounce, Phila. Med. Times, 5, 812; 48, J. H. Sherman, effects of half an ounce, N. E. Med. Gaz.,
Sept. 1874; 49, Schule, general statement of effects on
patients, Practitioner, June, 1873; 50, J. K. Warren,
fatal poisoning by greater part of one ounce, N. E. Med. Gaz., 6, 120; 51, effects of 9 grains, N. Y. Med. J., 16, 332; 52, effects of 7 1/2 grains on a woman, aged 68, suffering from
goitre and tumultuous action of heart; 53, experiment
with 2 scruples, A. Hom. Obs., 1870, p. 293; 54, effect
of 7 drachms, Am. H. Obs., 1870, p. 472; 55, effect of
15 grains, N. Am. J. of Hom., N. S., 5, 115; 56, J. R.
Reading, effects on a healthy man, N. Am. J., N. S., 5, 114; 57,
effects, N. Am. J. Hom., N. S., 5, 114; 58, Dr. Oehme,
effects of 5 grains for toothache, El. Crit. Med., 1874 (Raue, Rec., 1875).
MIND.
► Emotional. ► Feeling as though he had been intoxicated by wine (soon), [27]. ► Feeling of
intoxication when first awaking; this soon passed off, [41].
► All the phenomena of delirium tremens, [29]. ► Pain (from an ulcer in
cornea) relieved in half an hour after taking, but the patient became somewhat delirious,
and being missed from the ward, was found wandering about alone in the upper stories of the
building (60 grains), [21]. ►
Became delirious, and hurled a hot-water bottle at an imaginary figure which stood menacing
her at the foot of the bed, [18]. ► A consciousness of everything going on around him, with an
inability to resist giving utterance to what he knew to be profound nonsense (3 drachms
after ten minutes), [19]. ►
A pleasant excitation for a quarter of an hour, with pulse 88 (before taking 68),
(immediately), [53]. ►
In answer to questions, he said that his condition was of the most agreeable kind (soon), [27]. ► Lively mood, with
loud laughing and witty remarks (very soon), [27]. [10.] ► A muscular and moral
excitability similar to a slight champagne intoxication, whereby the prover felt pleasant,
smiled, and danced, [53]. ►
Generally so much reduced was she, alike in morale and
in physique, that though once an accomplished horsewoman
and habituated to danger and fatigue, she constantly evinced the profoundest terror without
any adequate cause, and was unable to walk a hundred yards without sinking from sheer
exhaustion, [38]. ►
The temper, never very good, has been much more irritable than usual ever since, [19]. ► From having been
a cheerful, upright, exceptionally intelligent, and strong-willed woman, she had become
morose, deceitful, and imbecile alike in intellect, memory and will, [36]. ► From having been a woman
of strong will and excellent mental power, she became listless and peevish, childish,
indeed, in many things, begging for chloral, [37]. ► Intellectual. ►
Inability to concentrate thought (second day), [10]. ► Confusion of thought; after an hour mind wandered much, [44]. ► Great confusion
of mind; a feeling as if he were now in one county and now in another, and with an anxious
desire to get home (3 drachms after ten minutes), [19].
► Mentally, while she enjoyed a distinguished reputation
as an authoress, she betrayed a confusion of mind, inability to concentrate her thoughts,
and impaired memory altogether remarkable in one so highly gifted by nature, [38]. ► Could not keep the thread
of sermon at church (second day), [6]. [20.] ► While unconscious,
talks quietly but incoherently (after fifty-five minutes), [1].
► A healthy, energetic man became almost idiotic through
its use, [56]. ►
Was with difficulty roused either to speak or take food, and on perfectly rallying at 4 P.M.
(second day) did not remember a single circumstance after swallowing the second dose at
midnight, but that the sensation had been one of unlimited rest, unbroken by anything, but
quite different from sleep; the only symptom to which she could herself refer was to the
cramps; the agonizing pain in her legs was the only occasional break in her otherwise
complete mental monotony, [22]. ►
He woke up refreshed in the morning, without any bad symptoms, but could not recollect the
disturbance by which he was awakened, nor that he replied, [53].
► Seemed in a peculiar state of consciousness; knew that
she was very ill, and herself insisted upon my being sent for (after one hour and a half), [22]. ► Slight
stupefaction (after one hour), [24]. ► Could not be roused, and made no attempt to answer questions,
[47]. ► Found to be
insensible (after twelve hours), [50]. ► Perfectly unconscious; not a flinch responds to the strongest
pinch; screams now and then, and is very restless; retching; foam at mouth; turns pale;
temperature of skin natural; pupils dilated; left leg spasmodically stretched, the right
being perfectly relaxed and easily flexed (during operation for rupture of perineum), (after
forty minutes), [1].
HEAD.
► Vertigo. ► Vertigo, [45]. ► General Head. [30.] ► Veins of head and neck filled to bursting (after one hour), [33]. ► Head bent upon
chest (after four hours), [22]. ►
Uncomfortable feeling about head all day, [7]. ► Two or three of the patients complained, on waking, of
headache, lasting from one to three or four hours, [21].
► Feeling of fulness and constriction in head, at 8 A.M.
(second day), [10]. ►
Dull feeling in head all day; it seemed full (second day), [6].
► Dull aching pain in head, on waking in morning, which
lasted all day (second day), [10]. ► Dull aching pain in head, aggravated by sudden motion (second
day), [10]. ► Forehead.
► Severe pain in frontal region right over the
supraorbital ridge, which nothing relieved, aggravated by movement (soon after), [5]. ► Headache in
forehead, extending to occiput (after two-thirds of an hour), [6].
[40.] ► Headache over
both eyes, running down in the eyes, left side worse, with feeling as if the eyes were
constricted; within two hours it gradually passed away (after two hours), [8]. ► Severe headache, lasting
about two hours; a feeling of fulness over the eyes, especially over left eye, accompanied
with some nausea and sour eructations of liquid, supposed to be what had been eaten for
breakfast (after two hours), [9]. ► Feeling as if a hot band was drawn across the forehead from
temple to temple, directly over the eyes, with sensation of a burning ring around each eye
(after a few minutes), [5]. ►
Dull, heavy, pressing headache over the eyes, more particularly the left, while at supper;
it lasted about an hour, and then gradually wore away (after one hour), [9]. ► Occiput. ► Dull, heavy headache in occiput, and forehead over the eyes;
a feeling of weight and soreness, and seems wholly inside the cranium; aggravated by moving
about, and on lying down, but slightly relieved by going into the open air (after one hour
and a half), [4]. ►
External Head. ► Change in hair, not in color
so much as in texture, the patient asserting on recovery that it had acquired a “dry,
fluffy feel,” had become “woolly,” [36].
EYE.
► Redness and watering
of the eyes, lasting for two days, [30]. ► Eyes bloodshot and constantly watering, [36]. ► Eyes bloodshot, and as if
starting out of their sockets (3 drachms after ten minutes), [19].
► Eyes suffused and half-covered by the drooping eyelids
(1 ounce), [14]. [50.]
► Eyes became inflamed and weakened, and there was
burning lachrymation (3ss. daily for two months), [14].
► For three weeks the eyes were much inflamed, and unable
to bear the light without pain, [19]. ► The disk after the dose was seen to have a transparent
appearance resembling white wax; the retina was always found paler than before taking; the
central artery and vein and their branches were darker in appearance, and seemed to stand
out more prominently, [40]. ►
A state of capillary congestion was found in the left disk on two occasions; once it came on
very soon after the light was thrown on the retina, on the other occasion it was observed
front the first (1 scruple), [40]. ► A general haziness of the fundus was noticed on one occasion
in both eyes, when sleep had been produced (1/2 drachm after one hour), [40]. ► Stared wildly about (soon
after), [51]. ►
Eyes set and glassy (after twelve hours), [50]. ► Brow. ► Great fulness
over eyes, with pressing headache (after one hour), [12].
► Lids. ►
Eyelids became red and swollen; conjunctiva injected, [45].
► Eyelids closed, and with some little difficulty opened
(after four hours), [22]. [60.]
► Temporary ptosis (in an overworked man), [18]. ► Lachrymal Apparatus.
► Lachrymation (after one hour and a half), [33]. ► Conjunctiva.
► Redness, swelling, and secretion of the conjunctiva, [32]. ► *Conjunctiva
congested (after twelve hours), [50]. ► The conjunctivæ were more congested after the effects of the
drug were fully manifested, [40]. ► Whole conjunctiva injected (after four hours), [22]. ► Injection of the
conjunctiva, with turgescence of the face, [26]. ► Ball. ► Slight
throbbing pain in left eyeball, aggravated by leaning forward, at 11.20 A.M. (second day), [9]. ► Pupil. ► Pupils dilated, [36]. ► Pupils dilated, with sensitiveness to the light, [25]. [70.] ► Both pupils somewhat dilated, [53].
► Pupils contracted, [47];
(after half an hour), [33]. ►
Pupils contracted, insensible to light (after twelve hours), [5].
► Pupils contracted to size of pin’s head (after forty
minutes), [35]. ►
Pupils became at first contracted, the right more than the left, followed by dilatation of
the pupils, with subsequent alternations of myosis and mydriasis, [26]. ► Pupils became elliptical
in form, soon followed by angular contraction of the left pupil, at first directed downward
and outward, afterwards outward and upward (although there were no senechiæ in the eyes), [26]. ► Pupils thought to
be more sensitive to light, [40]. ► Vision. ► Dimness of sight,
[36]. ► Once, after
total cessation of chloral, temporary loss of vision, lasting with intervals for two days, [36]. ► After the sleep,
diplopia in its worst form, succeeded in fifteen or twenty minutes by muscæ volitantes;
(“everything appears double, and flies, or dark spots, pass before her eyes”), [45].
EAR.
[80.] ► Constant tinnitus aurium (1 ounce), [14].
FACE.
► Wistful, haggard
expression in the face (1 ounce), [14]. ► Face dusky, [47]. ► Face quite purple (3 drachms, after ten minutes), [19]. ► The face, to the
roots of the hair and down to the ramus of the lower jaw, was of a dark-scarlet color, which
was very persistent under pressure, most intense over cheek-bones, and shading in different
directions; the ears partook of the same color, which was scattered in blotches over neck
and chest, the lowest spot being at the centre of the sternum; this flushed condition was
accompanied by slight contraction of the pupils, injection of the conjunctiva, and an
excitement of the circulation; it continued for about an hour, and passed off during a
paroxysm of sneezing (after half an hour), [55]. ► Face, forehead, the whole head to the neck, suffused with a
deep redness (after one hour), [33]. ► Face and eyes very red (after one hour), [24]. ► Face becomes red and the
eyes glittering (soon), [27]. ►
Face flushed (55 grains, after twenty minutes), [2]. ► Face flushed and anxious, [36].
[90.] ► Face
intensely flushed (after four hours), [22]. ► The use of any alcoholic stimulant, even claret in very small
quantities, would flush his whole face, suffuse his eyes, and bring on almost at once a
severe headache, which was almost always at the back of the head, “about the
cerebellum” (1/2 ounce daily), [14]. ► Looked pale and anxious (second day), [51]. ► Unusual pallor of
countenance, although the pulse continued as before taking (observed in several cases), [28]. ► Deathly paleness
of face, with Hippocratic expression, veins sunken in (after one hour and a half), [33]. ► Rush of blood and
sensation of heat in face, which lasted only for a minute or so (after a few minutes), [5]. ► Jaws. ► Teeth firmly closed (after ten minutes), [35]. ► Teeth “fixed”
(soon after), [51].
MOUTH.
► Gums. ► Gums spongy (20 grains thrice daily), [15]. ► Tongue. ► White, thickly-furred tongue, [29].
► General Mouth. [100.]
► The lips and mucous membrane of the mouth were
excoriated; in five days the ulceration of the mouth had extended further; the lips were
covered with crusts (20 grains thrice daily), [15]. ► Saliva. ► Frothy mucus
flowed from the mouth, and it seemed filled with a membranous substance, not unlike that of
membranous croup (after twelve hours), [50]. ► Speech. ► Expressed
himself in a peculiar broken speech, as if partially drunk (1 ounce), [14].
THROAT.
► Came near
strangling by spasm of the throat, involving apparently the epiglottis, [57]. ► Moderate catarrhal sore
throat, with pain in the fauces (three cases), [32]. ► Awoke at 7 A.M. with feeling as of a cold in head; throat and
posterior nares seem sensitive, raw, and burning (second day), [6]. ► Fauces and Œsophagus.
► Unless largely diluted, it produces a burning sensation
in fauces and stomach, [13]. ►
Partial paralysis of the œsophagus, accompanied by a nervous disinclination to
take food or drink, and seriously interfering with nutrition of patient, [38]. ► Partial paralysis of the
œsophagus, not spasmodic stricture; the muscles contracting, indeed, but sluggishly and
incompletely, under the stimuli of food and drink; recurred at intervals for many months,
even after convalescence was established, [36]. ► Swallowing. ►
Deglutition difficult, the act not beginning till he strangled and coughed (after forty
minutes), [35].
STOMACH.
► Appetite.
[110.] ► Loss of
appetite, [29]. ►
Hardly any appetite for dinner, [9]. ► Thirst. ► Great
thirst, [29]. ►
Urgent thirst, [44]. ►
On awaking in morning, intense thirst, with dryness of tongue and fauces, headache, vertigo,
nausea, and great nervous sensibility, [39]. ► Eructation. ► Acidity
of stomach; regurgitation of food tasting very sour (after one hour), [12]. ► Nausea and Vomiting.
► Nausea, [45]
(especially on second or third day), [43]. ► In some instances, it has induced nausea and vomiting, [13]. ► Sense of nausea
and oppression in stomach, without inclination to vomit; an uneasy feeling in stomach;
nausea and stomach symptoms seemed to be relieved by eating supper, but came on again later
in the evening (after one hour and a quarter), [4]. ► Retching (after fifty-five minutes), [1]. [120.] ►
Slight retching (55 grains, after one hour and five-sixths), [2].
► Slight tendency to vomit, [22]. ► After the first dose,
whether she had the whole or a part, she always was sick, so that a double dose was used
every night (noticed in three other cases), [37]. ► Stomach. ► Belching of
wind; lasted until after eating (after five minutes), [8].
► Sense of emptiness shortly after eating, as if he had
not eaten, [3]. ►
Intolerable sense of sinking and oppression at pit of stomach, [44]. ► Pain in stomach and
abdomen, accompanied by slight difficulty of respiration (second day), [10]. ► Extremely painful
sensation at pit of stomach (especially on second or third day), [43]. ► Sharp pains in epigastric
region (after two hours), [11].® 2000
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