CHLO'ROFORN (from chlorine + formy1), or TRICHLOROMETH USE, CHCI,. A colorless, heavy liquid having a sweetish, ethereal odor and a sweetish, burning taste. It does not mix with wa ter, but dissolves freely in alcohol and ether. Its specific gravity at 15° C. is 1.498, and it boils at 61° C. It is an excellent solvent for a variety of substances, such as camphor, iodine, sulphur, phosphorus, resins, fats, alkaloids, etc. it is chiefly used, however, as an anesthetic. It is formed by the direct action of chlorine on meth ane, or marsh gas, in sunlight : further, by the ac tion of sodium or potassium hydroxide on chloral (q.v.). The method usually employed in nicking chloroform on a large scale consists in distilling from iron retorts a mixture of bleaching-pow der, water, and ordinary alcohol, or preferably acetone; the crude product of distillation is puri tied by shaking with strong sulphuric acid and redistilling. To be fit for use as an amesthetic, chloroform must be perfectly pure; and as by the action of light it is readily decomposed if kept in contact with moist air, bottles containing chloroform should he well stoppered and kept in the dark. Pure chloroform is not darkened by shaking with sulphuric acid; it should also con tain no phosgene gas, which forms by the action of moist air on chloroform, and may cause bad after-effects when the latter is employed as an anaesthetic. To prevent the formation of phos gene gas a small amount of alcohol is added to chloroform. The presence of chloroform in sub stances submitted for examination may be readily detected by the so-called carbylaminc reaction: a small quantity of the substance is gently warmed with a mixture of aniline and an alco holic solution of caustic potash, when, if chloro form was present, an intensely nauseous smell is observed, due to the formation of carbylamine (phenyl isocyanidel. Preparations of chloro
form arc often used to mask the taste of nau seous medicine. The chances of danger from using chloroform as an anaesthetic are very small; statistics show that no more than one death occurs in 3000 cases of administration of the substance. Ether, however, is even safer, and is in this country preferred to chloroform. It inhaled in small quantities, chloroform has the effect of abolishing the sensation of pain: for this purpose it is successfully employed in labor. It may also be inhaled to relax spasms in cases of tetanus. etc. As an anaesthetic, chloroform should be administered with the greatest caution, and ether is substituted for it if the patient suf fers from heart disease. If anaesthesia he pro longed several hours, three stages may be dis tinguished: At first the highest functions of the organism are affected; confusion of the mind is accompanied in the patient by a pleasurable feeling throughout the body; general sensation is blunted, while the lower motor functions are powerfully excited, and the arms and legs are tossed about in a disorderly manner. This is followed (second stage) by general depression. and soon general anaesthesia sets in. The ad ministration of chloroform is. however, carried on until the patient is partially narcotized and reflex excitability is completely abolished (third stage). During the administration of chloro form. vomiting is very liable to occur. If dan gerous symptoms appear. artificial respiration should at once be resorted to, brandy injected subcutaneously, and the patient's lower extremi ties elevated. Chloroform was discovered by Liehig and Souheiran in 1831: its amnesthetic properties were first observed by Simpson, of Edinianrh. in 1848.