“ This tincture contains chloroform, morphine and prussic acid, and must be used with the greatest care.
Externally chloroform is an antiseptic, a local anaesthetic if allowed to evaporate, and a rubefacient, causing the vessels of the skin to dilate, if rubbed in. Its action on the stomach is practically identical with that of alcohol (q.v.) , though in very much smaller doses. The uses of chloroform which fall to be mentioned here are:—as a counter-irritant; as a local anaesthetic for toothache due to caries, it being applied on a cotton-wool plug which is inserted into the carious cavity ”

“ When digested with phenols and caustic soda it forms oxyaldehydes (K. Reimer, Ber., 1876, 9, p. 423) ; and when heated with alcoholic potash it is converted into potassium formate, CHCl3 + 4KHO = KHCO2 + 3KCl + 2H2O. It combines with acetoacetic ester to form the aromatic compound meta-oxyuvitic acid, C6H2·CH3·OH· (COOH) 2. ”