132 
BKITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
What is the best process for the preparation of the salt ? What are its 
characters ? How may its purity be best ascertained ? 
We will first take into consideration the characteristics of the salt as de¬ 
scribed by previous authorities. 
Pereira says, “Valerianate of iron, prepared according to the Dublin Col¬ 
lege, is a tile-red loose amorphous powder, with a faint odour and taste of 
valerianic acid. When heated it first fuses, then evolves its acid, and is con¬ 
verted into sesquioxide of iron. At a temperature of 212° it gives out part of 
its acid; it is nearly insoluble in water, does not mix well with cold water, 
but repels it like lycopodium, and boiling water gradually extracts the acid 
from it. It dissolves in alcohol and acids.” 
Wittstein, who seems to have given some attention to the subject, says:— 
“ The valerianate of peroxide of iron obtained by precipitation is a dark brick- 
red loose amorphous powder, smelling and tasting faintly of valerianic acid j 
it will not mix with cold water even when rubbed continuously with it, but 
is instantly wetted by warm water, and gives up a portion of its acid to it.” 
The same authority says :—“ The affinity between the oxide of iron and 
valerianic acid is so feeble that a gentle heat will suffice to abstract the greater 
portion of the acid, consequently the precipitation should only take place in 
the cold. Even continued treatment with cold water gradually abstracts the 
acid, a nd at the same time removes a little of the oxide of iron, so that the 
precipitate must not be washed as long as the water passing olF has an acid 
reaction.” 
The descriptions of the salt here given agree pretty closely with the prepa¬ 
ration as met with in commerce, with the exception of the solubility in 
alcohol. Although I have examined about a dozen specimens procured from 
various houses in London, and some in the provinces, I have found none, with 
the exception of a specimen sent me by an esteemed member of this Con¬ 
ference, Mr. Daniel Hanbury, which would dissolve in any appreciable pro¬ 
portion in alcohol. 
The bulk of the samples examined consisted mainly of peroxide of iron, 
with small quantities of valerianic acid in the compound. Ho two prepara¬ 
tions were precisely alike in composition, owing no doubt to the fact that as 
prepared in the way usually directed, and dried by artificial heat, the loss of 
valerianic acid was considerable. 
The specimen sent me by Mr. Hanbury was in the form of a soft extract, 
smelling very strongly of valerianic acid, and of a transparent ruby colour, 
—agreeing, in fact, precisely with a specimen I had myself prepared some 
months previously, but had not been able, owing to business engagements, to 
investigate. It is best, perhaps, here to say that when following the usual 
directions for preparing the salt, I had invariably obtained the brick-red 
powder described by Pereira and Wittstein. 
About three weeks ago I resolved to make a closer examination of these 
two preparations of valerianate of iron, namely, Mr. Hanbury’s and my own, 
in order to see wffierein they differed from the powdery kind usually found in 
the market. As they were both found to be identical in composition eventually, 
the description of one of them will suffice. I will describe the sample sent 
b}^ Mr. Hanbury. 
A small quantity of it was spread out thinly upon the lid of a platinum 
basin and weighed. The quantity was 13'42 grains; the first thing to be. 
done with it was to remove any excess of moisture in the compound. Eearin g 
that heat might dissipate some of the valerianic acid, the vessel was placed- 
under the receiver of a large air-pum^, together with a dish of sulphuric acid, 
and kept in vacuo for twenty-four hours, when the loss was found to be 2'7 
grains, equal to 20 per cent. It was then exposed to the same influences 
