Croton chloralum
por Edwin M. Hale — Materia Medica and Special Therapeutics of the New Remedies
Volume I — Special Symptomatology
(Croton-chloral Hydrate.)
Pharmacology. — Croton-chloral Hydrate is formed by the action of chlorine gas upon aldehyde. It crystalizes in small glittering tablets, and is soluble, with difficulty, in water. Although its name would seem to signify it, Croton-chloral has no relation with croton oil. Chemically, it is a chlorated aldehyde of crotonic acid. When subjected to the influence of an alkali, there is first formed allyl-chloroform, a trichlorated body, which is rapidly decomposed into a bi-chlorated substance called bi-chlorallylene.
Officinal Preparations. — Solution 3 i to 3ix; dilutions.
It destroys the sensibility of the cranial nerves, affecting only the brain and nerves of the head; while chloral hydrate affects the whole nervous system.
(See Therapeutics, Vol. II.)
Volume II — Special Therapeutics
This drug is said to possess the singular property of producing ancesthesia of the brain and nerves of the head, leaving all the body
below in a natural condition. It is highly recommended for neuralgia of the head and face, and other very painful affections of the head.
In the “British Journal of Homoeopathy ” for 1873, page 188, Dr. J. W. Legg is quoted as reporting this medicine as useful in the principal affections of th c fifth nerve. The drug was given to about twenty persons, all suffering pains in the regions supplied by the fifth nerve, i.e., the upper and lower jaw, the face, and supraorbital region of the forehead ; pains paroxysmal, increased at night mostly. In nearly all the patients there was caries of the teeth, and in about one-half signs of anaemia. Five, ten, and twenty grains were given at a dose, dissolved in water. In all the patients except two great relief from pain followed the dose. In the two cases the pains were aggravated. Some slept, others were eased but did not sleep.
I have never used it, and it does not seem to have become popular with physicians.
You will do well to watch its history and use, for it may prove homoeopathic to some serious conditions, paralysis of the brain, for instance.