278 
BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
coulcl scarcely be said to be permanent, and our next aim was to discover 
some means of overcoming this objection. As the precipitate had been as¬ 
certained to consist of a ferrous salt, insoluble in the wine, it was evident 
that the addition of some substance which should prevent its precipitation 
by keeping it in solution would effect this purpose. After trial of several 
agents, we arrived at the conclusion that neutral citrate of ammonia was that 
best adapted to the requirements of the case. Many tentative experiments 
resulted in our being able to fix the proportion of this salt necessary to keep 
the solution transparent without imparting any disagreeable taste. The fol¬ 
lowing formula affords a preparation which, in our opinion, leaves little to be 
desired. 
Take of ammonio-citrate of iron 160 grains. 
,, crystalline citrate of ammonia 60 grains. 
,, sherry 1 pint. 
Dissolve. 
The wine thus prepared will of course contain in each fluid drachm one 
grain of ammonio-citrate of iron and three-eighths of a grain of citrate of 
ammonia. It is perfectly transparent, has no disagreeable taste whatever, 
and may be exposed to diffuse daylight without incurring the least liability 
to deposition, or indeed undergoing any apparent change, except that it 
becomes somewhat darker in colour after a time. This change in colour is 
of course produced by the reduction of the iron salt,—the alkaline citrate 
not preventing the deoxidation, but simply keeping the protosalt in solu¬ 
tion. While, however, the alteration in tint cannot be considered of any prac¬ 
tical importance, it may be quite prevented by keeping the wine in opaque 
vessels. 
The direct action of sunlight produces in this wine a precipitate after a 
considerable time, but this is a crucial test to which the preparation is not 
likely to be often subjected. However, were it necessary to guard against 
even this cause of alteration, the increase of the proportion of citrate of am¬ 
monia would effectually do so, but it would be at the cost of rendering the 
wine somewhat unpalatable. Kept in an ordinary tincture bottle, and under 
the same conditions of light and temperature to which such preparations are 
usually exposed, a specimen prepared more than two months since remains 
without any sign of present or approaching alteration. 
Dublin. 
ON COMMERCIAL WINE OF IRON, WITH SUGGESTIONS. 
BY FRANCIS SUTTON, F.C.S. 
(Read at the Bath Meeting of the British Pharmaceutical Conference , Sept. 1864 .) 
That the preparation of this somewhat popular form of medicine has hither¬ 
to been variable and unsatisfactory is a fact which needs no other proof than 
may be obtained from an inspection of the various official formulas given 
during the last thirty or forty years, or a cursory examination of samples of 
the wine obtained from different but thoroughly respectable makers. These 
remarks apply to the steel wine made previous to the introduction of the 
British Pharmacopoeia. 
For the purpose of ascertaining-the variation to which the preparation was 
liable, even in the hands of the leading Pharmaceutical Chemists in London, 
the writer obtained samples from seven of the most prominent establishments 
in the month of January in the present year. 
Five of these specimens were perfectly clear, two were slightly opaque in 
appearance,—no two samples were precisely alike in colour. 
