“ Strychnine is much less likely, however, to save life after poisoning by chloral hydrate, than chloral hydrate is to save life in poisoning by strychnine.
Chronic poisoning by chloral is a most pernicious drug-habit. The vice is easily and very rapidly acquired. The victim is usually excited and loquacious. He is easily fatigued and suffers from attacks of easily induced syncope. There are signs of gastro-intestinal irritation, and a tendency to cutaneous eruptions of an erythematous type. The patient may succumb to a dose only slightly larger than usual. ”

“ Very soon—perhaps twenty minutes—after taking such a dose, the patient falls into a sleep which lasts several hours, and is not distinguishable from natural sleep. When he wakes, it is without disagreeable after-symptoms, but with a feeling of natural refreshment. The pupils are always contracted under its influence, except in large doses. There is also rapidly induced a depression of the anterior horns of grey matter in the spinal cord, and as the symptoms of strychnine poisoning are due to violent stimulation of these areas, chloral hydrate is a valuable antidote in such cases. ”

“ The treatment is to give a stimulant emetic such as mustard; to keep up the temperature by hot bottles, &c.; to prevent or disturb the patient’s morbid sleep by the injection of hot strong coffee into the rectum; and by shouting, flipping with towels, &c.; to use artificial respiration in extreme cases ”