Aldehyde

Hydrate of oxide of acetyl.

J. Y. Simpson, M.D., Pharm. Journ., vol. vii, 1848, p. 517.

Out of five of us that attempted to inhale Aldehyde, very carefully prepared and purified, four were driven to suspend the respiration of it in consequence of the coughing and insufferable feelings of dyspnœa which it immediately induced. The sensations of difficult respiration and constriction in the chest which the vapor produced, resembled precisely those of a severe fit of spasmodic asthma. In the fifth case, the experimentalist, after perseveringly breathing the Aldehyde for a minute or two, became entirely insensible; the state of anæsthesia lasted for two or three minutes, during which the pulse excessively small and feeble. On recovering, the bronchial constriction and coughing, which had disappeared as the anæsthesia was induced, returned immediately, and was annoying for some time.