User:Bretsilverglate/sandbox

Article Evaluation

The first article I read was the one on Robert Boyle. I thought it was quite informative while remaining fairly concise. Having taken a few HIPS courses and thus being in a relatively good position to judge, I thought the article was quite good. Nor did it seem to adopt any one historian's pet view of Boyle, but presented a survey of claims and points of contention. There were a few areas that I felt simplified a bit much, but this is likely my own bias. As far as I could tell, none of the links were broken and all seemed to lead to reliable sources.

On the other hand, while I felt the Priestly article was good in terms of its facts and presentation, I went into too much detail and seemed a little overwhelming to someone unfamiliar to the topic. I thought the organization of Boyle's page, which presented a brief biography followed by sections on his various endeavors, was superior to Priestly's which made it all biographical. Conversely, I thought some elaboration on his phlogisticon theory would have been useful, as it would help the reader better understand his conflicts with various other chemists.

Articles I Could Improve

The first article that I have considered improving is the one on Chloral hydrate. Chemically, the article is quite complete, but its history section is very lacking. Chloral hydrate was one of the first modern sedatives and had wide use in the late 19th century, but even this is given only a passing mention. It was also one of the first pharmaceuticals prescribed (albeit ineffectively) to target a mental illness. Additionally, it later developed somewhat of a presence in popular culture through its recurrence as a trope in pulp fiction. I consider adding a modest history section to this article would be justified as it is inline with the articles of many other historically notable chemicals. Diethyl ether, Sulfur mustard, white lead, Mauveine, Sulfuric acid and Hydrogen cyanide, all historically chemicals, all have decent history sections in their articles.

The other article I have considered improving is the one on Japanese electrical engineer Shintaro Uda. The current article on him is very short, despite his invention of the Yagi–Uda antenna, which was a decisive piece of technology in the Second World War that later become omnipresent in the world of modern communications (particularly as TV antennas). Hidetsugu Yagi, his collaborator who did less work on it but was more well known, even has a longer article. Considering 500 words is very little, I think one could write a short article that properly describes his life and work.

What I will Improve in Chloral Hydrate

I intend to improve this wikipedia article by adding to it a complete, concise history section similar to that of the articles I cited above. I hope to begin by discussing its synthesis, the realization of its therapeutic potential about thirty years later, its wide use as a hypnotic and sedative, its early and important use as a psychological drug, and how it came to be almost entirely superseded in the modern day. It also has an important use, both contemporary and historical, as a building block in organic synthesis that will be discussed. The section will also touch upon its presence in historical popular culture.

Primary Sources and notes

The first source that I found is Edward Shorter's A History of Psychiatry. It is an academic work by a professor of medical history at the University of Toronto. It was introduced to me in a class on the History of Mental Illness, and is well-cited. It has a brief but anchoring section on chloral's early psychiatric use that will hopefully lead me to other sources.

The second source that I found is also by Edward Shorter, Before Prozac, which is a history of mood disorders and has some description of its use as a psychiatric drug, and describing how it went out of style and was replaced by barbituates.

My third source is from the history of anesthetic The Worst of Evils by Thomas Dormandy. It is an academic volume that has a brief section discussion of the discovery and clinical use of chloral throughout its history. It also discusses its elucidation as a hypnotic and not an analgesiac.

My fourth source is a journal article from the Journal of the History of Anesthesia (where all the next articles come from) that explains how common chloral was by showing its presence in the Merk Manual.

My fifth source is another journal article that discusses an attempt by one if its pioneers that it was metabolized into another drug (chloroform) through blood assay, the first such experiment.

My 6th source is another journal article that discussed how chloral hydrate was the first sedative used for surgery that was administered intravenously, though abandoned due to many of its disadvantages

My 7th source discusses chloral hydrate in relation to the historical Meyer-Overton theory, which was the first modern theory of the still unexplained action of general anesthetic. It also clarifies that 50 years later the experiment in source five yielded a more descisive answer.

My 8th source clarifies how intravenous use was found to be unsafe, especially for the military, with regards to the 6th source.

History (this will be a subsection on the article on Chloral Hydrate)

Chloral hydrate was first synthesized by the chemist Justus von Liebig in 1832 at the University of Giessen. Through experimentation, physiologist Claude Bernard clarified that the chloral hydrate was hypnotic as opposed to an analgesic. It was the first of a long line of sedatives, most notably the barbiturates, manufactured and marketed by the German pharmaceutical industry. Historically, chloral hydrate was utilized as a Psychiatric medication. In 1869, German physician and pharmacologist Oscar Liebreich began to promote its use to calm anxiety, especially when it caused insomnia. Chloral hydrate had certain advantages over morphine for this application, as it worked quickly without injection and had a consistent strength. It achieved wide use in both asylums and the homes of those socially refined enough to avoid asylums. Upper and middle class women, well-represented in the latter category, were particularly susceptible to chloral hydrate addiction. After the 1904 invention of barbital, the first of the barbiturate family, chloral hydrate began to disappear from use among those with means. It remained common in asylums and hospitals until the Second World War, as it was quite cheap. Chloral hydrate possessed other important advantages that kept it in use for five decades, despite the existence of more advanced barbiturates. It was the safest available sedative until the middle of the twentieth century, and thus was thus particularly favored for children. It also left patients much more refreshed after a deep sleep than more recently-invented sedatives. Its frequency made it an early and regular feature in the Merck Manual.

Chloral hydrate also was also a significant object of study in various early pharmacological experiments. In 1875, Claude Bernard tried to tell if chloral hydrate exerted its action through a metabolic conversion to chloroform. This was not only the first attempt to determine whether different drugs were converted to the same metabolite in the body but also the first to measure the concentration of a particular pharmaceutical in the blood. The results were inconclusive. In 1899 and 1901 Hans Horst Meyer and Ernest Overton respectively made the major discovery that the general anaesthetic action of a drug was strongly correlated to its lipid solubility. But, chloral hydrate was quite polar but nonetheless a potent hypnotic. Overton was unable to explain this mystery. Thus, chloral hydrate remained one of the major and persistent exceptions to this breakthrough discovery in pharmacology. This anomaly was eventually resolved in 1948, when Claude Bernard's experiment was repeated. While chloral hydrate was converted to a different metabolite than chloroform, it was found that was converted into the more lipophilic molecule 2,2,2-Trichloroethanol. This metabolite fit much better with the Meyer-Overton correlation than chloral had. Prior to this, it had not been demonstrated that general anesthetics could undergo chemical changes to exert their action in the body.

Finally, chloral hydrate was also the first hypnotic to be used intravenously as a general anesthetic. In 1871, Pierre-Cyprien Oré began experiments on animals, followed by humans. While a state of general anesthesia could be achieved, the technique never caught on because its administration was more complex and less safe than the oral administration of chloral hydrate, and less safe for intravenous use than later general anesthetics were found to be.

Notes

Prospective Secondary:

Shorter (owned)

Drink spiking and predatory drugging : a modern history (Reg, physical)

Histoire de l'anesthésie : méthodes et techniques au XIXe siècle (online work).

Bulletein of Anestheisia history/journal of

Prospective Primary (digital materials)

Das Chloralhydrat; ein neues Hypnoticum und Anaestheticum und dessen Anwendung in der Medecin.(Special collections)

Drugs that enslave; the opium, morphine, chloral and hashisch habits (Online)

Etudes cliniques sur l'anesthésie chirurgicale par la méthode des injections de chloral dans les veines. (online)

A comparative study of the dosage and effects of chloral hydrate, isopral and bromural on cats. (online)

Diphtheria, croup, etc., or, The membranous diseases : their nature, history, causes, and treatment, with a review of the prevailing theories and practice of the medical profession (online)

L'immunité par les vaccins chimiques. Prévention de la rage par le vaccin tanacétique ou le chloral. (online)

Shadows lifted: or, Sunshine restored in the horizon of human lives : a treatise on the morphine, opium, cocaine, chloral and hashish habits (Special collections)

The general practitioner as a specialist. A treatise on the treatment of opium, morphine, cocaine, chloral and alcohol addiciton, hernia by the injection method, goitre, (online and physical in library.

Contemporary Sources that May have Historical Information

"Simpson's Forensic Medicine"

"Current Neurologic Drugs"

Search chloral, some contemporary stuff.

^All in Reg