CHAPTER IX.
EFFECTS OF CHLORAL ON THE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS AND APPARATUSES.
As I said in my last chapter, it is not every person who uses chloral for a lengthened period who becomes an habituè, and it is not every habituè who is affected in every way as fully or completely as in the manner about to be described. In each individual the organs chiefly affected and the length of time necessary to produce the effect vary according to idiosyncrasy, which simply means peculiar personal susceptibility. This same fact holds good with reference to opium and morphine, as well as chloral.
MIND.
The effect of the long continued use of this drug on the mind is, in the majority of instances, much more rapid and distinct than that of opium. At first there is a transient period of stimulation, followed by gradual weakness and cloudiness of intellect, mental hebetude, apathy to what is going on around. A low species of cunning is usually developed, that leads to the planning of plausible excuse and subterfuge to obtain a full supply of the drug. This condition is well illustrated by the following:—
Dr. Wm. Kirkpatrick Murphy[61] reports three cases of chloralism—
1. Lady, fifty-eight; spare but muscular, and of more than ordinary intelligence and strength of will. Took morphine for some time, to overcome sleeplessness due to painful affection of the bladder. Six months before Dr. M. saw her she had been taking chloral, twenty grains at night, to commence, finally one hundred and fifty grains in the twenty-four hours. At his first visit found her almost a skeleton, hard to rouse, maudlin and semi-narcotized. When questioned, answered wildly and disjointedly. State of mind closely bordering on imbecility. Pupils dilated. Pulse slow, feeble and intermittent. Face flushed and anxious. This had been her condition for many weeks. Her rare lucid intervals were spent in childish whining for more chloral, or in cunning attempts to deceive her attendants and obtain an extra dose surreptitiously. 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.
Points of exceptional interest.
1. Marked decubitus, with not mere indisposition, but, at times, manifest incapacity for exertion.
2. Dark, erythematous flush over head and neck, with extraordinary twitching of facial muscles.