SULPHONAL. — Sulphonal (sulfonal, di-ethyl-sulphone-di-methyl-methane) is obtained from anhydrous acetone by anhydrous ethyl-mercaptane with a stream of dry hydrochloric-acid gas. It occurs in thick, tasteless, odorless, color less prisms, soluble in G5 parts of cold and in 2 parts of boiling alcohol, in 135 parts of ether, in 500 parts of cold and in 15 parts of boiling water. Sulphonal is not affected by any of the ordinary acids, alkalies, or oxidizing agents either in the cold or when warm, and is a very stable compound. This substance was intro duced by E. Baumann in 1886, and clinically reported upon by A. Kast in 1888, as an hypnotic in doses of from 15 to 45 grains. On account of its in solubility and slow rate of absorption when given in capsules or suspended in mucilage or simple elixir, it has been suggested that it be administered in hot broth, coffee, or milk. Stewart suggests that at bed-time the sulphonal be com pletely dissolved in boiling water, and drunk as soon as it has been cooled to a temperature which can he borne, before precipitation occurs. This solution may be flavored with creme de menthe.
Physiological Action.—The symptoms produced by sulphonal in man by even large therapeutic doses are simply quiet sleep, without any disturbance of di gestion, pulse, or temperature, out of which the patient wakes after some hours in his normal condition, or occasionally with a certain amount of giddiness and lack of mental tone. It seems doubtful whether any single dose of sulphonal will cause death in the robust adult; cer tainly enormous doses have been taken and survived (Wood). Kast affirms that the blood-pressure is not altered by doses which produce sleep, and in the experi ment of William F. Shick, of Easton, Pa., there was even pronounced rise of the arterial pressure, the cause of which was not determined; as no experiments were made upon curarized animals, the rise in the blood-pressure may have been produced by the failure of respiration (Wood). Shick states that sulphonal in
moderate doses produced relaxation of the muscles and a staggering gait, but had no influence upon the motor or sen sory nerves nor upon the muscles.
The reflex activity is markedly di minished by sulphonal, which is prob ably a direct depressant to the spinal cord; but Shick states that in some of his experiments the reflex activity was increased, and that the decline of the reflexes is, in fact, due to stimulation of Setschenow's centre. Kast found neither microscopical nor spectroscop ical blood-changes in animals acutely poisoned by sulphonal. When taken in large amount, sulphonal is eliminated, in part by the kidneys unchanged, but the greater portion of it appears to be eliminated, according to Smith, of Lon don (London Pract., Jan., '89), in the form of an organic sulphur compound, probably ethyl-sulphonic acid. The same experimenter found that moderate doges increased the amount of urea and the quantity of urine excreted, but to so slight a degree that it does not appear that in such doses the destruction of nitrogenous tissue is materially affected. The phosphates in the urine are said by some observers to be increased by small and decreased by large doses of this drug. The color of the urine is apt to be changed to a reddish brown by the pres ence of a coloring matter which is closely allied to and has been generally supposed to be identical with hmnatoporphyrin. The two substances are identical by al most every test, but the spectroscope re Teals a difference.
W. Morro (Dent. med. Woch., No. 34, '94) concludes from experiments that sulphonal is not destroyed in the organ ism, but is eliminated in the urine, from which it can be separated in a crystalline condition. The quantity eliminated in -creases day by day while it is being ad ministered, and, in general, if its use be -discontinued, three days must elapse be fore the sulphonal accumulated in the body will be eliminated.