918 IRON 



Messrs. Evans, Lescher, and Evans, in thoir monthly Drug-market Report for February, 

 state that, in consequence of the makers having failed to carry out the combination 

 which has hitherto kept up the price, iodine has suddenly, though not unexpectedly, 

 fallen more than 50 per cent, in value, and in like manner iodide of potassium has 

 equally declined. The immediate result of the fall is an immense demand from all 

 quarters, everyone having let their stocks run out, greater than can be supplied at the 

 moment. The decline has been followed immediately by a slight advance, which has 

 now been considerably further augmented. 



IODITE, or IODYRITE. A native iodide of silver, consisting of iodine 53*109 

 and silver 46'380. It is found at Guadalajara in Spain, at Albarradon near Mazapil 

 in Zacatecas (Mexico), and at Delirio mines near Chanarcillo in Chili. See SILVER. 



IOZ.ITE. A name applied to the mineral othervrise known as cordieritc or dichroitc, 

 in allusion to the violet colour which, it frequently presents. See DICHBOITB. 



IPECACUANHA. The root of the Cephaelis Ipecacuanha, valued in medicine 

 as an expectorant, emetic, purgative, and sedative. It owes its active principle to an 

 alkaloid called emetina. The cultivation of the ipecacuanha plant has recently been 

 introduced into India. 



IRXDIU1VX. A rare white metal, found in connection with platinum and osmium. 

 Smithson Tennant in 1804 discovered that certain black scales which remained after 

 native platinum was dissolved in nitro-muriatic acid, was an alloy of two metals, 

 iridium and osmium. For a full account of the methods of separating this native 

 alloy from platinum, and of separating iridium and osmium from each other, consult 

 Watts's ' Dictionary of Chemistry.' The native alloy on account of its hardness is 

 used to point metallic pens. See IRIDOSMINE. 



iRimtnvi OXIDE. A substance is so known in the Russian mint. It consists, 

 according to Deville, of: volatile substances (and oxygen), 28'0 ; soluble salts, 12*0; 

 platinum, 3'8 ; rhodium, 1*8; palladium, 0'4; copper, 0'6; iron, 07; iridium and 

 loss, 527=100-0. 



IRIDOSMIWE. A native alloy of iridium and osmium found with native 

 platinum. 



IRISH DIAMONDS. A name sometimes applied to rock-crystal found in 

 Ireland. It is occasionally cut and polished by the jeweller, and mounted in bog-oak. 

 IRISH GREEN. An architect's name for the green serpentinous marble of 

 Connemara in Western Galway. 



IRISH MOSS. A term applied to the seaweed, otherwise known as Carrageen 

 moss (Chondrm crispus). It is used in the preparation of bandoline, and of a jelly 

 for invalids. See ALGJE. 



IRON (Per, Fr. ; Eisen, Ger.) is a metal of a bluish-grey colour, and a dull fibrous 

 fracture, but it is capable of acquiring a brilliant surface by polishing. Its specific 

 gravity is 778. It is the most tenacious of metals, and the hardest of all those which 

 are malleable and ductile. It is singularly susceptible of the magnetic property, but in 

 its pure state soon loses it. When rubbed it has a slight smell, and it imparts to the 

 tongue a peculiar astringent taste, called chalybeate. In a moist atmosphere iron 

 speedily oxidises, and becomes covered with a brown coating called rust. 



Every person knows the manifold uses of this truly precious metal. It is capable of 

 being cast in moulds of any form ; of being drawn out into wires of any desired strength 

 or fineness ; of being extended into plates or sheets ; of being bent in every direction ; 

 of being sharpened, hardened, and softened at pleasure. Iron accommodates itself to all 

 our wants, our desires, and even our caprices ; it is equally serviceable to the arts, the 

 sciences, to agriculture, and war ; the same ore furnishes the sword, the ploughshare, 

 the scythe, the pruning hook, the needle, the graver, the spring of a watch or of a 

 carriage, the chisel, the chain, the anchor, the compass, the cannon, and the bomb. 

 Iron in the state of peroxide, and in several chemical combinations, enters largely 

 into our Pharmacopeias, this metal having been long a favourite medicine. 



This metal has been found in a native state ; but it is obtained by a metallurgical 

 process from certain ores of iron, which are scattered over the crust of the globe with 

 a beneficent profusion proportioned to the utility of the metal. They are found under 

 every latitude, and every zone ; in every mineral formation, and are disseminated in 

 every soil. 



The minerals containing iron as an essential constituent, and in considerable quantity, 

 are very numerous, as the metal is found in the native state, forming very complicated 

 mixtures with other elements, in masses of mainly extra-torrestial origin, and combined 

 with arsenic, and sulphur, in various proportions in the different varieties of copper- 

 iron- and arsenical-pyrites, and also with oxygen forming different oxides, which in their 

 turn unite with water and with carbonic acid, forming the hydrates and carbonates 

 of iron ; these being the only minerals available for metallurgical treatment under 

 ordinary circumstances. The silicates, sulphates, and phosphates of iron are also of 



