126 
FUCUS VESICULOSUS. 
out of the globe with alcohol, then drained and dried on plates of 
glass, and purified by a second sublimation from dry quicklime." 
Iodine has the property of forming acids with hydrogen, oxygen 
and chlorine. Iodine has great affinity for hydrogen, and takes it 
from a great number of bodies, and forms with this gas the hydriodic 
acid, which is composed exclusively of iodine and hydrogen. This 
acid is in the form of a colourless gas, which has a strong taste and 
a penetrating odour, it reddens the tincture of turnsol, and extin- 
guishes burning bodies; it is rapidly absorbed by water.* Starch 
is the most delicate test to detect the presence of iodine, any solution 
containing iodine in an uncombined state becomes a fine blue colour 
on the addition of a small quantity of starch. 
Sensible Effects of Iodine on Man. This substance 
appears to act as a general stimulus, increasing tlie action of the 
arterial system ; when continued for an undue length of time it pro- 
duces general emaciation, and wasting of the testes and mammje ; in 
larger doses, it produces nausea and vomiting, and subsequent in- 
flammation of the stomach. We are told by Dr. Gairdner, that 
when this substance is exhibited injudiciously, it produces a great 
and peculiar depression of the spirits, attended with tremor and 
anxiety. Dr. G. also found the emaciation and cholera attending 
the exhibition of iodine, extend to very untoward resnlts.f 
Medical Properties and Uses of Iodine. This sub- 
stance was first introduced into medical practice by M. Coindet, a 
physician of Geneva, who employed it for the cure of goitre, with 
great success ; subsequently many physicians both in France and 
Switzerland, and likewise in this country, have used it with undi- 
minished reputation. From the success attending its exhibition fof 
the cure of goitre, its effects have been tried in the cure of many 
other glandular diseases ; and if confidence is to be placed in men 
whose names are an ornament to the profession, J we have no reason 
to doubt but Iodine will prove one of the most valuable articles of 
the Materia Medica. The diseases in which Iodine has been chiefly 
exhibited, are scrophula, white swellings, cancer, suppressed cata- 
menia, and incipient pulmonary aifections,§ proceeding from a 
* For a full and particular account of the combination of iodine with the acids and 
alkalies, we refer our readers to the translation of Magendie's Formulary , by R. Dunglison. 
t Essay on the Effects of Iodine, &e, by W. Gairdner, 
t Dr. Gairdner, De Carro, Wagner, Ilanuemann, Daron, Roots, M. Maogndie, 
Hufeland, &cc. &ic. 
§ Case recorded by the late Mr. Haden. 
