INORGANIC FOODS. 401 



bining with the more complicated organic compounds containing iron, 

 was believed to unite preferably with the iron of inorganic compounds. 

 The iron in the nutriment would thereby be protected, and remain in the 

 system instead of being eliminated as sulphide of iron. Since it has been 

 shown, however, that even inorganic iron salts are absorbed, and it has been 

 proved, moreover, that alkaline sulphides are not present in the stomach 

 and small intestine, this protective theory may well be discarded. 1 



From the experiments that have been cited, it is perfectly clear that in 

 reality we know very little concerning the cause of chlorosis, and especially 

 concerning the action of iron preparations. On account of the complexity 

 of the processes involved, we can hardly expect at present to understand 

 perfectly the relations between the iron and the pathology of the blood 

 formation. Above all, we need to know more about the process of blood 

 formation, and especially as regards the formation of hemoglobin itself. 

 At the same time the solution of the problem of the formation of hemo- 

 globin does not by any means necessarily solve the whole problem of the 

 formation of the blood. We then have to consider the formation of the 

 blood corpuscles. The stroma of the blood corpuscles must also be built 

 up, and, in such a way that it can take up the hemoglobin. A long chain 

 of processes leads from the separate building materials of hemoglobin, 

 the iron and the organic compounds, to the finished blood corpuscles 

 capable of exerting their important functions. The chain may be broken 

 at many places, and thereby the whole process of blood formation dis- 

 turbed. This so infinitely complicated problem has been attacked only 

 from one side, that of the iron. Undoubtedly iron is indispensable in the 

 formation of blood, but equally indispensable are all the remaining and 

 building materials which are far more complicated, the hematin, hemo- 

 globin, and even the corpuscles themselves. 



This is not the place to discuss whether iron preparations actually 

 do have any effect upon chlorosis. It is indeed conceivable that it is the 

 dietetic and hygienic measures that are taken that are alone effective in 

 iron therapeutics. We have followed chlorosis and iron therapeutics 

 thus far only in the hope that we would be able thereby to get some idea 

 of the relation of iron to the formation of blood. On the contrary, the 

 above conclusions apparently lead us to the opinion that chlorosis 

 itself is not difficult to understand, we can account for its appearance 

 if we assume that the function of the organs producing blood are in any 

 way disturbed, but on the other hand, the fact that inorganic 

 iron preparations 2 are successful* in combating the disease rather stands 



1 Cf. Kletzinsky: Z. Ges. Aerzte Wien X, II, 281 (1854). Hannon: Presse medical 

 (1851). Weltering: loc. cit. G. von Bunge: Lehrbuch d. phys. chemie, p. 94 (1894). 



2 Nearly all of the " organic " iron preparations on the market belong to this class 

 of iron salts, for they contain the iron in a loose state of combination. 



