previously been on friendly terms, and raze their city to the ground. Shortly afterwards, however, an insurrection took place, by which the disciples of Pythagoras were driven out, and a democracy established. The victory of the Locrians and Phlegians over Crotona in 480 B.C. marked the beginning of its decline. It suffered after this from the attacks of Dionysius I., who became its master for twelve years, of the Bruttii, and of Agathocles, and even more from the invasion of Pyrrhus, after which in 277 the Romans obtained possession of it. Livy states that the walls had a length of 12 m. and that about half the area within them had at that time ceased to be inhabited. After the battle of Cannae Crotona revolted from Rome, and Hannibal made it his winter quarters for three years. It was made a colony by the Romans at the end of the war (194 B.C.). After that time but little is heard of it, though Petronius mentions the corrupt morals of its inhabitants; but it continues to be mentioned down to the Gothic wars. The importance of the city was mainly due to its harbour, which, though not a good one, was the only port between Tarentum and Rhegium. The original settlement occupied the hill above it (143 ft.) and later became the acropolis. Its healthy situation was famous in antiquity, and to this was ascribed its superiority in athletics; it was the seat also of a medical school which in the days of Herodotus was considered the first in Greece. Of the exact site of the ancient city and its remains practically nothing is known; a few fragments of the productions of its art preserved in private hands at Cotrone are described by F. von Duhn in Notizie degli scavi, 1897, 343 seq. (T. As.)
CROTONIC ACID (C4H6O2). Three acids of this empirical formula are known, viz. crotonic acid, isocrotonic acid and methacrylic acid; the constitutional formulae are—
The isomerism of crotonic and isocrotonic acids is to be explained on the assumption of a different spatial arrangement of the atoms in the molecule (see Stereochemistry).
Crotonic acid, so named from the fact that it was erroneously supposed to be a saponification product of croton oil, may be prepared by the oxidation of croton-aldehyde, CH3·CH:CH·CHO, obtained by dehydrating aldol, or by treating acetylene successively with sulphuric acid and water; by boiling allyl cyanide with caustic potash; by the distillation of β-oxybutyric acid; by heating paraldehyde with malonic acid and acetic acid to 100° C. (T. Komnenos, Ann., 1883, 218, p. 149).
or by heating pyruvic acid with an excess of acetic anhydride and sodium acetate to 160–180° C. (B. Homolka, Ber., 1885, 18, p. 987). It crystallizes in needles (from hot water) which melt at 72° C. and boil at 180–181° C. It is moderately soluble in cold water. It combines directly with bromine, and, with fuming hydrobromic acid at 100° C., it gives chiefly α-brombutyric acid. With hydriodic acid it gives only β-iodobutyric acid. Potash fusion converts it into acetic acid; nitric acid oxidizes it to acetic and oxalic acids; chromic acid mixture to acetaldehyde and acetic acid, and potassium permanganate to αβ-dioxybutyric acid.
Isocrotonic acid (Quartenylic acid) is obtained from β-chlorisocrotonic acid, formed when acetoacetic ester is treated with phosphorus pentachloride and the product poured into water, by the action of sodium amalgam (A. Geuther). It is an oil, possessing a smell like that of butyric acid. It boils at 171.9° C., with partial conversion into crotonic acid; the transformation is complete when the acid is heated to 170–180° C. in a sealed tube. Potassium permanganate oxidizes it to βγ-dioxybutyric acid.
Methacrylic acid was first obtained in the form of its ethyl ester by E. Frankland and B. F. Duppa (Annalen, 1865, 136, p. 12) by acting with phosphorus pentachloride on oxyisobutyric ester (CH3)2·C(OH)·COOC2H5. It is, however, more readily obtained by boiling citra- or meso-brompyrotartaric acids with alkalis. It crystallizes in prisms, which are soluble in water, melt at 16° C., and boil at 160.5° C. When fused with an alkali, it forms propionic acid; with biomine it yields αβ-dibromisobutyric acid. Sodium amalgam reduces it to isobutyric acid. A polymeric form of methacrylic acid has been described by F. Engelhorn (Ann., 1880, 200, p. 70).
CROTON OIL (Crotonis Oleum), an oil prepared from the seeds
of Croton Tiglium, a tree belonging to the natural order Euphorbiaceae,
and native or cultivated in India and the Malay Islands.
The tree is from 15 to 20 ft. in height, and has few and spreading
branches, alternate, oval-oblong leaves, acuminate at the point,
and covered when young with stellate hairs, and terminal
racemes of small, downy, greenish-yellow, monoecious flowers.
The male blossoms have five petals and fifteen stamens; the
females have no petals but a large oblong ovary bearing three
bifid styles. The fruit or capsule is obtusely three-cornered,
and about the size of a hazel-nut; it contains three cells each
enclosing a seed. The seeds resemble those of the castor-oil
plant; they are about half an inch long, and two-fifths of an inch
broad, and have a cinnamon-brown, brittle integument; between
the two halves of the kernel lie the large cotyledons and radicle.
The ocular distinction between the two kinds of seeds may be of
great practical importance. The most obvious distinction is that
the castor-oil seeds have a polished and mottled surface. The
kernels contain from 50 to 60% of oil, which is obtained by
pressing them, when bruised to a pulp, between hot plates.
Croton oil is a transparent and viscid liquid of a brownish or
pale-yellow tinge, and acrid, peculiar and persistent taste, a
disagreeable odour and acid reaction. It is soluble in volatile
oils, carbon disulphide, and ether, and to some extent in alcohol.
It contains acetic, butyric and valeric acids, with glycerides of
acids of the same series, and a volatile body, C5H8O2, tiglic
acid, metameric with angelic acid, and identical with methylcrotonic
acid, CH3·CH:C(CH3)(CO2H). The odour is due to various
volatile acids, which are present to the extent of about 1%.
A substance called crotonal appears to be responsible for its
external, but not its internal, action. The latter is probably due
to crotolinic acid, C9H14O2, which has active purgative properties.
The maximum dose of croton oil is two minims, one-fourth of that
quantity being usually ample.
Applied to the skin, croton oil acts as a powerful irritant, inducing so much inflammation that definite pustules are formed. The destruction of the true skin gives rise to ugly scars which constitute, together with the pain caused by this application, abundant reason why croton oil should never be employed externally. Despite the pharmacopoeial liniment and the practice of a few, it may be said that this employment of croton oil is now entirely without justification or excuse.
Taken internally, even in the minute doses already detailed, croton oil very soon causes much colic and the occurrence of a fluid diarrhoea which usually recurs several times. It is characteristic of this purgative that it is a hydragogue even in minimal dose, the fluid secretions of the bowel being most markedly increased. The drug appears to act only upon the small intestine. In somewhat larger doses it produces severe gastro-enteritis. The flow of bile is somewhat increased. Such effects may all be produced, even up to the discharge of blood, by the absorption of croton oil from the skin.
The minuteness of the dose, the certainty of the action, and the large amount of fluid drained away constitute this the best drug for administration to an unconscious patient (especially in cases of apoplexy, when it is desirable to remove fluid from the body), or to insane patients who refuse to take any drug. One drop of the oil, placed on the back of the tongue, must inevitably be swallowed by reflex action. A dose should never be repeated. The characters of this drug obviously contra-indicate its use in all cases of organic disease or obstruction of the bowel, in pregnancy, or in cases of constipation in children or the aged.
CROUP, a name formerly given to diseases characterized by distress in breathing accompanied by a metallic cough and some
