REMARKS  ON  MONSEl/S  PERSULPHATE  OP  IRON.  405 
July,  1859,  page  35),  M.  Monsel,  after  recapitulating  his  pro- 
cess, noted  above,  suggests  that  the  quantity  there  produced 
should  be  shaken  with  a  few  grammes  of  linseed  oil  at  intervals 
during  12  hours,  to  completely  remove  all  traces  of  nitric  odor, 
and  which  tends  to  preserve  it. 
From  the  experiments  made  at  the  Val  de  Grace  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  Council  of  Health  by  M.  Poggiale,  on  dogs  and 
rabbits  placed  in  the  same  condition,  it  resulted  that  the  sul- 
phate of  the  peroxide  of  iron  is  a  hemostatic  as  powerful  as 
the  perchloride  of  iron,  and  that  in  two  cases  a  prompt  cure 
was  obtained,  although  the  wounds  were  very  serious  and  large 
vessels  had  been  severed. 
The  following  is  the  formula  for  Monsel's  solution  rendered  in 
officinal  weights  and  measures  : — 
Take  of  Distilled  water,  three  fluid  ounces, 
Sulphuric  acid  two  drachms  and  a  half  (Troy.) 
Protosulphate  of  iron,  twenty-five  drachms  (Troy). 
Nitric  acid  35°B.  four  drachms  (Troy.) 
Add  the  sulphuric  acid  to  the  water  in  a  porcelain  capsule  and 
heat  it  to  boiling  ;  powder  the  sulphate  of  iron,  and  add  one  half 
of  it  to  the  acidulated  water;  when  dissolved,  pour  in  the  nitric 
acid  little  by  little.  When  the  red  fumes  cease  to  be  developed, 
add  the  remainder  of  the  sulphate  of  iron,  and  stir  with  a  glass 
rod  till  dissolved,  and  the  effervescence  ceases.  Continue  the 
heat  until  the  solution,  which  at  first  is  dark  colored,  has  be- 
come reddish-brown,  and  measures  three  fluid  ounces  and  three 
fluid  drachms.    The  nitric  acid  must  not  exceed  35°  B. 
The  specific  gravity  of  this  solution  is  1522.  When  it  is 
carefully  evaporated  in  a  capsule,  removing  the  pellicle  which 
forms  on  the  surface  from  time  to  time,  it  gets  exceedingly 
tough  like  an  extract,  and  when  dried  on  glass  in  transparent 
laminse,  it  is  very  difficult  to  remove  it,  owing  to  strong  ad- 
hesion ;  moreover  it  is  so  deliquescent  that  the  drying  cannot  be 
well  performed  in  the  open  air,  but  requires  a  stove  heat. 
In  reviewing  the  process  of  M.  Monsel  it  would  appear  that 
he  employs  100  grammes  of  water,  and  100  grammes  of  sulphate 
of  iron,  besides  the  sulphuric  acid,  and  the  process  does  not  in- 
volve much  evaporation,  yet  at  the  close  the  whole  is  to  measure 
only  just  as  much  as  the  water  originally  employed,  viz :  100 
