EMPLOYMENT OP IODIDE OF SODIUM. 
407 
in an ingenious address which he delivered at the pharma¬ 
ceutical meeting in Edinburgh last November, and which is 
published in the 6 Pharmaceutical Journal’ of the month fol¬ 
lowing, states that 6 in the pampas of South America, where 
goitre is prevalent, the remedy, a so-called goitre-stick, is 
nothing more than the thick stem of a sea-weed.’ Mr. 
Cooper, in his e Surgical Dictionary,’ recommends for some 
scrofulous affections the use of poultices of sea-weed. 
“ Iodide of sodium, as a therapeutic agent, is and ought to 
be more active than iodide of potassium, since it is richer 
in iodine. According to Gmeli-n, iodide of sodium contains 
84*45 parts of iodine in the hundred, while iodide of potas¬ 
sium contains but 74*27, the proportion of sodium, though 
small, being still sufficient to cover the irritative quality of 
its associate. 
“ As far as my experience goes, iodide of sodium is a 
blander salt, more assimilable, and better borne by the 
stomach, than iodide of potassium. It is, moreover, much 
less prone to produce symptoms of iodic disturbance. 
Patients under my care have taken it steadily for weeks to¬ 
gether, without suffering the slightest inconvenience, and 
with uniform advantage as regarded the morbid condition. 
On no occasion, save one, has there been any complaint 
made of this medicine producing sense of weight or uneasi¬ 
ness referred to the stomach, nausea, impaired appetite and 
digestion, headache, running from the eyes and nostrils, 
general nervous depression—symptoms which at times super¬ 
vene during the administration of iodide of potassium, even 
in moderate doses. The instance in question was that of a 
puny, scrofulous boy with disease in both knee-joints. 
“As a general rule, the preparations of soda are milder in 
their operation on the system than those of potash.. If, 
moreover, the important view, first announced by M. Dumas, 
in the 92d volume of the ‘ Annales de Chimie,’ be accepted, 
that there are certain salts which leave the blood the faculty 
of becoming arterialized, while others deprive it of this pro¬ 
perty, and that the salts having soda for their base are more 
proper to maintain this condition of integrity than those of 
potash or ammonia, it may be fairly assumed that the former 
are likely to exercise a more favorable remedial influence 
than the latter, especially if exhibited continuously for a 
length of time. Soda, variously combined, is diffused exten¬ 
sively throughout the organism; fully five sixths of the 
saline constituents of healthy blood consists of salts of this 
base.. 
“ Iodide of sodium may-be prescribed in all cases- in which 
the employment of iodide of' potassium is indicated, as anti : 
