Vincenzo Cervello (1854–1918)
Paraldehyde was first synthesized in 1829 and later introduced into medicine by the Italian physician Vincenzo Cervello in 1882. Along with the bromides and chloral hydrate, it was among the first few effective sleep-producing drugs. Barbiturates such as barbital and phenobarbital, which first appeared early in the twentieth century, proved to be far easier to administer and more agreeable to take, in turn displaced the older drugs. Paraldehyde is still used, although hardly achieving blockbuster sales.
Paraldehyde is a colorless liquid, with a strong characteristic odor and a burning, highly disagreeable taste. Within minutes after its ingestion, irritating the throat and stomach on the way down, its fusel oil odor permeates the breath and persists for an entire day. About 30 percent of the dose is eliminated from the body in the exhaled, odorous air.
Recipients must be in bed when taking paraldehyde, because it induces sleep within ten to fifteen minutes. It is occasionally used in children to treat status epilepticus, a potentially life-threatening condition in which seizures persist for more than thirty minutes. At an earlier time, until the appearance of Librium-related benzodiazepines in the 1960s, paraldehyde was used to calm highly agitated hospitalized alcoholics undergoing withdrawal, including delirium tremens (DTs).
Paraldehyde’s effects are similar to alcohol, but it is far more powerful in its ability to induce sleep. Notwithstanding paraldehyde’s odor and taste, it has been abused. After being given paraldehyde to treat their alcoholism, some alcoholics may prefer it. Vivid auditory and visual hallucinations have been reported after paraldehyde’s abrupt withdrawal.
Many medical supporters over the years have advocated its continued use, but with the introduction of safer, more effective, and certainly more palatable alternatives, its eventual demise was inevitable. Paraldehyde is still used in resin manufacture, as a preservative, and in other processes as a solvent.
SEE ALSO Bromides (1857), Chloral Hydrate (1869), Barbital (1903), Phenobarbital (1912), Librium (1960).
The drunkard in Flemish painter Adriaen Brouwer’s The Bitter Tonic (c. 1635) would have been a good candidate for paraldehyde when experiencing alcohol-withdrawal symptoms.