CHLORITE. A salt in which the hydrogen of chlorous acid, HClO2, is replaced by a metal or other basic radical. See Chlorous Acid.
CHLOROCHROMIC ACID. CrOCl. Syn. Chlorochromic anhydride. Prep. Bichromate of potassium, 3 parts; common salt, 31⁄2 parts; are intimately mixed together, put into a glass retort, and oil of vitriol, 9 parts, added; heat is next applied and maintained as long as dense, red vapours are given off. The product in the receiver is a heavy, deep-red liquor, greatly resembling bromine in appearance. Water resolves it into hydrochloric and chromic anhydride.
CHLORODYNE. See Patent Medicines.
Chlorodyne (Dr Browne’s). Acid muriat. conc., 5 parts; ether, chloroform, tinct. cannab. Ind., tinct. capsici, of each 10 parts; morphia, prussic acid, of each 2 parts; oil of peppermint, 1 part; syrup, 50 parts; tinct. hyoscyami, tinct. aconiti, of each 3 parts.
Chlorodyne, English. A filtered mixture of 5 grammes tinct. aromat., 4 grammes tinct. opii simp., 1 gramme morph. mur., 10 grammes aq. amygd. amar., 80 grammes syrup of liquorice, 1 gramme extract of liquorice, 40 grammes 90 per cent. spirit of wine, 5 drops oil of peppermint, 10 drops ether, 30 drops chloroform.
CHLOROFORM. CHCl3. Syn. Terchloride of formyle, Formyl-chloride; Chloroformyl, Trichloromethane, Chloroformum, L. A remarkable fluid discovered by Liebig in 1830, and independently by Soubeiran in 1832, and carefully examined in 1834 by Dumas. In 1842 its action upon animals was investigated by Dr M. Glover, and in 1847 it was introduced to the medical profession as an anæsthetic agent by Dr Simpson of Edinburgh.
It was first obtained by the action of caustic alkali upon chloral, but it is more easily prepared by distilling alcohol or wood spirit with chloride of lime. It may also be procured from wood spirit, acetone, oil of turpentine, and several essential oils, as well as from amylic alcohol, acetic acid, tartaric acid, and phenol; when these different bodies are severally subjected to the action of chloride of lime. When chlorine is made to act on marsh gas, or when chloral is treated with an alkali, chloroform is also produced.
Prep. 1. Chloride of lime (in powder), 4 lbs.; water, 12 lbs.; mix in a capacious retort or still, add of rectified spirit, 12 fl. oz., and cautiously distil as long as a dense liquid, which sinks in the water it passes over with, is produced; separate this from the water, agitate it with a little sulphuric acid, and, lastly, rectify it from carbonate of barium.
2. Chloride of lime, 4 lbs.; water, 10 pints; rectified spirit, 1⁄2 pint; proceed as last, using a spacious retort that the mixture will only 1-3rd fill, and the heat of a sand bath. When ebullition commences remove the fire as quickly as possible, lest the retort be broken by the suddenly increased heat, and let the solution distil into a receiver as long as there is nothing which subsides, the heat being restored if it be at all needed. Add to the distilled liquid four times as much water, and shake the whole well together; next cautiously separate the heavier part as soon as it has subsided, and to this add chloride of calcium, broken into fragments, 1 dr.; and shake occasionally during an hour; finally, let the fluid again distil from a glass retort into a glass receiver.
3. Hydrate of lime, 1 part, is suspended in cold water, 24 parts, and chlorine passed through the mixture until nearly the whole of the lime is dissolved; hydrate of lime, q. s. just to restore the alkaline reaction of the liquid, is then added; and, afterwards, rectified spirit of wine or wood spirit, 1 part, is mixed in; the whole, after repose for 24 hours in a covered vessel, is cautiously distilled as before.