CHLOROSIS. 809 



according to Slaud^s original prescription (Ijt Ferri sulp. pi.lv., potass, 

 carb. purse, aa ss, tragacanth. q. s. u. f. pil.), I have ninety-six 

 pills made. Nor am I so timid in increasing the dose according to 

 BlaucTs formula, but order three pills thrice daily, and sometimes four 

 or five if they are well borne, which they almost always are. Three 

 boxes of JBlaud's pills nearly always suffice to cure the most persistent 

 chlorosis. At Magdeburg and Greifswald I often had to send my re- 

 cipe for the pills to a great distance, my good fortune in the treatment 

 of chlorosis to which, by-the-by, I owe the rapid growth of my prac- 

 tice having given me a great reputation as the possessor of a sover- 

 eign remedy against that disease. 



I do not suppose that BlaucPs pills excel all other ferruginous 

 preparations in virtue ; indeed, I have repeatedly satisfied myself that 

 colleagues who made use of other recipes obtained equal results, pro- 

 vided only that they gave doses of equal size ; but I also believe that 

 the efficacy of BlaucTs pills cannot be surpassed, simply because they 

 can be administered in very large doses without distressing the patient. 

 I had an opportunity to test the truth of this some ten years ago. I 

 was asked for my recipe by one of my colleagues, and at first referred 

 him to the Canstatt text-book, which contained the well-known formula 

 for Blautfs boli ; but, as he did not have that book, I told him the 

 formula, adding, that I began with three boli, raising the dose one 

 bolus every three days. Some time afterward my colleague took occa- 

 sion to thank me, extolling the excellent effect of the medicine, and 

 stating how well it had been borne by the patient. As it turned out, 

 however, he had misunderstood me, and, instead of raising the dose 

 every three days, had added one bolus at every dose. 



It has been maintained that the treatment of chlorosis does not 

 require large quantities of iron, because the amount of it taken up by 

 the blood is very small, and since, even when small doses are given, a 

 large portion of the metal always passes off in the stools as superflu- 

 ous, and further, because the efficacy of the chalybeate springs in this 

 disease proves that a minimum of iron will suffice. Without going 

 into groundless theoretical discussions, I will admit that the disease 

 will also recover (although somewhat slowly) under the use of smaller 

 doses of iron, and may be cured by chalybeate waters ; but the numbej 

 of patients who have recovered in my practice through the employmeu^ 

 of Blautfs pills, and under that of my colleagues under the use ol 

 carbonate of iron (pil. ferri carb.), or of lactate of iron in large doses, 

 after they had taken small doses of tincture of iron and wine of iron 

 for years without positive effect, and had repeatedly visited Pyrrnont 

 and Driburg, is large enough to warrant the assertion that we shall 

 cure chlorosis most speedily and surely by means of those ferruginous 



