24  SOLUBILITY  OF  STRYCHNIA  IN  WATER,  ETC. 
Lancaster,  December  13th,  1858. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  American  Joxirnal  of  Pharmacy.  ' 
Dear  Sir  : — In  the  May  number  of  the  Journal,  p.  276,  (1858)  you 
suggest  a  formula  for  citrate  of  iron  and  strychnia,  the  ratio  of  1  to  48. 
1  have  since  August  last  prepared  a  considerable  quantity,  which 
has  been  used  by  Dr.  Charles  L.  Baker,  with  very  great  success,  in  the 
treatment  of  chlorosis,  especially  when  dependent  on  mental  emotions, 
or  where  there  has  been  a  total  suppression  of  the  menses  from  any  ex- 
citement. 
I,  however,  prepare  it  in  the  ratio  of  1  to  100,  and  it  is  prescribed  in 
conjunction  with  Tr.  Chiretta,  or  Tr.  Chiretta  and  Fluid  Ext.  Valerian; 
the  minimum  dose  of  the  citrate  being  3  grains,  which  can  be  increased 
to  5  or  6,  or  perhaps  further,  should  there  be  a  necessity  for  more  iron, 
without  giving  too  large  a  quantity  of  the  strychnia. 
Not  knowing  whether  the  next  number  of  the  Journal  will  contain 
any  articles  on  this  new  and  I  believe  very  excellent  therapeutic  re- 
medy, may  I  as&  whether  you  will  prepare  an  article  for  publication  ? 
If  so,  it  will  be  received  with  great  pleasure  and  profit  by  the  numerous 
readers  of  the  Journal,  and  by 
Yours  truly,  Charles  Heinjtsh. 
ON  THE  SOLUBILITY  OF  STEYCHNIA  IN  WATER  AND  ALCOHOL. 
Ed  Am.  Journal  of  Pharmacy : — Respected  Friend, 
After  considerable  hesitation,  and  lapse  of  time  since  the  ex- 
periments were  commenced,  we  have  concluded  to  call  attention, 
through  the  columns  of  your  Journal,  to  a  seeming  discrepancy 
between  the  statements  of  Wood  &  Bache,  page  U95,  U.  S.  D., 
upon  the  solubility  of  Strychnia,  and  the  results  of  some  expe- 
riments instituted  to  substantiate  those  statements. 
During  a  conversation  upon  the  properties  of  Strychnia,  Dr. 
Haughton,  of  this  city,  stated  upon  the  authority  of  a  Pharma- 
ceutist (?)  residing  here,  that  it  was  readily  soluble  in  both  water 
and  alcohol.  (On  inquiring  into  the  method  the  said  pharma- 
ceutist employed  in  producing  his  solutions,  we  found  that  he 
placed  the  strychnia  in  the  solvent,  permitted  it  to  remain  a 
few  hours,  then  filtered,  and  of  course  had  fine,  clear  solutions(?) 
to  exhibit.) 
Not  feeling  satisfied  to  permit  our  standard  authority  to  be 
thus  set  at  nought,  we  instituted  some  experiments,  resulting  as 
follows : 
1  gr.  strychnia  in  1  f.g.  water,  dissolved  sufficiently  to  render 
the  water  somewhat  bitter,  but  as  nearly  as  we  can  ascertain 
