a7id Observations on Iodine, 
507 
If iodine exists in sea water, which there is every reason to 
believe must be the case, though in extremely minute quan- 
tities, it is probably in triple union with oxygene and sodium, 
and in this case it must separate with the first crystals of 
common salt. 
Whether the superiority which the curers of fish and meat 
are in the habit of attributing to bay salt over rock salt, is at 
all connected with the presence of the compounds of iodine, is 
an inquiry perhaps worth making, and the results of Dr. 
Henry's elaborate investigation of the composition of different 
kinds of salts, do not preclude the possibility of the circum- 
stance, though they- certainly diminish the probability. 
I rubbed pieces of beef that had been killed some days, with 
the double and triple compounds of sodium. They did not 
putrify; the one rubbed with the double compound became 
very tender and soft, and of a red brown colour; that exposed 
to the triple compound hardened considerably, and became of 
a paler colour. 
The triple compound, as I have mentioned before, has very 
little taste, and neither of the compounds seems to have any 
pernicious quality when received into the stomach. I fed a gold- 
finch with bread soaked in water, holding in solution the double 
compound for two days, and he drank water holding in solu- 
tion the triple compound for three daySj without apparently 
suffering any inconvenience. 
Florence, March 23, 1814. 
