THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [November 5, 1870. 
364 
:a question whether its medicinal efficacy is not unpaire 
thereby. There exists no particular difficulty in pre¬ 
paring a handsome article when the directions of the 
Pharmacopoeia are followed. Put these directions are 
liable to the same objections as specified previously with 
regard to solutions of citrate of iron, as a good result is 
■dependent entirely upon the accurate attention given 
to the preparation during the process of heating ; ior n 
the heating reaches a certain point of temperature higher 
than directed when the quinia is being dissolved,^ it is 
apt to agglomerate into masses which are very un¬ 
manageable and difficult to dissolve. The difficulty may 
be obviated by triturating the properly precipitated and 
washed quinia with a portion of the solution of citrate ot 
iron, introducing it into a flask, and then adding the re- 
—• 0 Dj agitation, the quima 
dissolves in a short time, forming a clear solution, which 
may be concentrated on a water-bath without paying 
any special attention to temperature, and will scale with 
perfect facility. But by far the more popular salt is the 
ammonio-citrate of iron and quinia , which appears to have 
replaced the officinal compound almost entirely. This 
may be prepared successfully by reserving about one- 
sixteenth of the solution of citrate of iron and quinia, 
obtained as above, and adding to the remaining fifteen- 
sixteenths, contained in a flask, dilute aqua ammoniae 
in fractional portions, until a permanent precipitate re¬ 
sults. Upon each addition of ammonia, quinia is copi¬ 
ously precipitated, but it re-dissolves readily by agitation 
until toward the end of the process, when it will dissolve 
more slowly, and care must be exercised to avoid an un¬ 
desirable excess of alkali. The addition of the reserved 
one-sixteenth of solution will, by careful manipulation, 
redissolve the precipitate formed; and the solution, 
which in this instance may be evaporated to the consis¬ 
tence of treacle on an ordinary water-bath, without 
special care as to temperature, will, when spread upon 
glass plates, form fine scales of a handsome garnet colour, 
of perfect and rapid solubility and only moderate deli¬ 
quescence. 
Solution of the Soluble Citrates. —An expeditious method 
of dissolving the soluble scaled preparations is to place 
the salt in a mortar, add just sufficient water to cover 
it, allow it to stand a minute or two, then gently tritu¬ 
rate the mixture with a pestle, when perfect solution 
will result. If it is attempted to dissolve the salts by 
direct trituration with water, they will adhere to the 
pestle and sides of the mortar and Greatly delay the 
operation. 
'Pills of the Soluble Citrates. —These may be conve¬ 
niently and expeditiously prepared by adding from 
ten to fifteen per cent, of finely powdered elm-bark, and 
forming, a mass by the aid of glycerine, which appears 
to exercise just sufficient solvent power to effect proper 
cohesion. .A plastic mass is obtained, which does not 
harden rapidly, and is readily rolled into pills. 
fluencing, and in fact determining to some extent the 
quality of the beer. 
Glycerine is employed for the improvement of wines 
made from inferior grapes, the juice of which, being de¬ 
ficient in sugar, can never yield a sweet wane. It is pre¬ 
ferable to sugar for the purpose, as although sugar is 
cheaper, it would produce a second fermentation, which 
is not wanted. 
The extent to which glycerine is employed to improve 
wines cannot be demonstrated, as no w r ine merchant will 
admit that ho uses it; but in western Germany the 
makers of purified glycerine eond their travelling agents 
not only to the wine merchants, but to the wine farmers 
themselves, so that the former buy already improved 
wine, and need not therefore add any more glycerine. 
Experiments have proved that what thus improves wine 
will do no harm to beer. Beer containing but little gly¬ 
cerine has had 1 per cent. Of glycerine added to it, effect¬ 
ing a great change in taste and fulness. Glycerine added 
directly to the wort will not interfere in any way with 
the manipulation or processes of brewing. 
In the preparation of a full beer that will keep with¬ 
out being too bitter, glycerine may be used instead of 
sugar to counteract the bitterness with advantage, as it 
does not prolong the fermentation and clearing as sugar 
does. Glycerine is not readily volatile, but in a boiling 
liquid it passes over with the vapour of water. For this 
reason it should be added after the wort has become cool 
and before it goes into the fermenting-tubs. One or two 
pints of it may be used to every hundred quarts of beer, 
according to the quality of the hops used. One pound 
of glycerine represents two pounds of malt extract, or 
three and one-third pounds of malt, which accordingly 
may be reduced in quantity.— New York Druggists' Cir¬ 
cular. 
IODIDE OF CALCIUM, AND SYRUP OF IODIDE 
OF CALCIUM.* 
BY OTTMAR EBERBACH. 
Having had occasion to use the chemical specialities 
called iodide of lime and syrup of iodide of lime, and 
finding that the articles sold under these very unche¬ 
mical names were not simple chemical combinations (as 
for example, iodide of iron or syrup of iodide of iron), 
but mixtures, the former a mechanical mixture of iodine 
and quicklime, the latter of the two distinct chemical 
combinations called iodide of calcium and iodate of oxide 
of calcium, and being desirous to obtain a preparation in 
strict accordance with the title,—the author investigated 
the matter, with the following results :— 
The preparation called iodide of lime is a mechanical 
mixture of iodine and quicklime which, when put into 
hot water, undergoes a chemical reaction, for min g iodide 
of calcium and iodate of the oxide of calcium, as illus¬ 
trated by the following equation :— 
GLYCERINE IN BEER AND WINE. 
The demonstration by Pasteur, ten years ago, and 
later by Nessler, Pohl and others, of the natural pre¬ 
sence of glycerine in fermented liquors, gave rise to an 
advantageous process for the improvement of wines. It 
wasal so inferred.that a certain admixture of glycerine 
with beer would improve its quality. A series of expe¬ 
riments were made. Several kinds of celebrated beer, 
from Diesden, Gulmbach, Bohemia and Erlangen, were 
analysed.. In all these beers glycerine could be detected, 
m none in less proportion than -02 per cent., while in the 
into alcohol and carbonic aciri orUJit ^ q 1 
**“» «*•= ™■satast 
6CaO + 61 = 5 Cal +CaOIO s . 
These combinations are both contained in the so-called 
syrup of iodide of lime. To prepare the iodide of cal¬ 
cium free of the iodate of oxide of calcium, the most 
practical method is as follows :—prepare first a solution 
of the protoiodide of iron, by mixing iodine with a small 
excess of iron and sufficient water ; let this stand until 
the solution assumes a pale green colour; filter, and add 
to the filtrate one-third as much iodine as had been used 
to make the solution of protoiodide of iron; heat to the 
boiling-point, and add sufficient milk of lime to precipi¬ 
tate all of the iron, which precipitates in the form of 
Woehler’s granular magnetic oxide of iron, according to 
the. following equation:— 
^2 *3 1 * '■' M < V. J. 1^2 \_/g T Tt V_/ct_L. 
To obtain the iodide of calcium, filter the solution and 
From the Michigan University Medical Journal. 
