278 
PHAUMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
colour. Knowing liow often the presence of some salts may be concealed^ 
when intimately mixed and in a state of emulsion with an oil, I took the be¬ 
fore-mentioned iodide of iron with cod-liver oil, acidulated with diluted 
hydrochloric acid, and, warming the mixture to facilitate the separation of 
the iron compound, I could not discover the existence of any of it in the re¬ 
sulting liquid by evaporation. An equally negative result was obtained by 
using, for the separation of the iron compound from the oil, Graham’s dialysing 
apparatus,—a process which I followed by mixing repeatedly with the oil in 
the state of emulsion the diluted hydrochloric acid, and then putting the whole 
into the tube with wetted membrane—although some experiments made by 
me showed that hydrochloric acid is able to decompose the iodide, in an iodide 
of iron with cod-liver oil, combining with the iron. Nevertheless, for the better 
assuring myself whether in the three commercial oils there did not exist 
the iodide of iron, I added to each a certain quantity of sulphuric acid, and, 
with the help of heat, I caused the reduction of the oil into a carbonated 
mass. I divided this in two parts; one I washed with water, to test the 
solution with the usual reagent, which proved negative; the other I treated 
with concentrated hydrochloric acid, and then exhausted the mass with 
water, which I evaporated to dryness, to test the residue with sulphocyanide 
of potassium. And this second method I adopted, thinking that the iron of 
the iodide of iron might be transformed into 'oxide by the action of 
the carbonization, and that this would be dissolved by the hydrochloric 
acid. With so many experiments differently conducted, I satisfied myself 
that no iron compound was contained in the said samples of oil, two of which 
were purchased in France and one in Italy; and that the doctors were 
greatly mistaken in prescribing them, administering only a very altered oil, 
excessively rancid, having a very disagreeable odour of varnish and rotten 
fish, and containing only a small quantity of iodine. From printed memoirs 
on the iodide of iron with cod-liver oil, published from 1857 to 1865, I ascer¬ 
tained for certain the solubility of iodide of iron in cod-liver oil, although in 
a very small proportion; and I supposed that, by the decomposition of the 
iodide at the time of preparation, or in keeping, the precipitation of the iron 
took place. I proposed to myself, therefore, to find a process by which the 
cod-liver oil should not only undergo no alteration, but its combination with 
the iodide remain constant, and in certain established proportion. 
The process I have adopted is as follows:—From 1000 grammes of pure 
and light-coloured cod-liver oil, I separate 30 grammes, to which I add 12 
grammes of pure sulphuric ether. These are mixed together by agitation, 
aiding the mixture by a slight increase of temperature. I then take 6'5 
grammes of pure protosulphate of iron and 5'15 grammes of perfectly neutral 
iodide of potassium; these are rubbed together in a porcelain mortar and 
1 gramme of reduced iron added, to ensure the recombination of any iodine that 
may be set free during the process. A sufficient quantity of pure glycerine 
is added to moisten the salts and expedite double decomposition. When 
this has taken place, which usually occurs in about two minutes, one-third 
of the mixture of oil and ether is gradually well mixed with the salts, and 
then one-third of the separate 970 grammes of cod-liver oil being added, the 
whole is put into a well-stopped bottle, which it fills, and having been well 
shaken, the precipitate is allowed to subside and the oil then poured ofi*. 
The same process is repeated by adding a second and a third portion, both 
of the oil and ether and of the pure oil, to the precipitate as in the first in¬ 
stance. The whole is then put into a bottle capable of holding it, and which 
it exactly fills, and it is left thus for about ten days. It is then filtered 
through paper and kept in well-closed bottles. 
For the success of the jOTOcess it is essential that pure ether, quite free 
