Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  im. 
Bismuthyl  Iodide, 
163 
by  this  process  was  of  a  fairly  good  color,  but  slightly  darker  than 
some  other  specimens,  cakey,  and  very  difficult  to  pulverize  finely. 
The  chief  disadvantages  of  this  method  are,  that  the  water  being  hot 
and  the  acid  solution  not  being  sufficiently  diluted,  a  very  appreciable 
quantity  of  iodine  was  liberated  as  vapor,  giviug  the  supernatant 
liquor  a  distinctly  violet  color,  and  readily  recognizable  both  by  the 
odor  and  by  the  starch  test.  By  analysis  I  found  the  compound 
made  by  this  process  to  contain  97*65  per  cent.  BiOI. 
The  next  method  was  devised  by  R.  Pother  (Amer.  Jour.  Phar., 
Aug.,  i887,  pp.  390-391).  Theoretically  this  is  certainly  a  good 
method.  It  yields  a  product  of  a  dark  red  color,  heavy,  dense,  and 
rather  hard  to  pulverize  finely.  It  contains  95*3  per  cent.  BiOI,  with 
3  or  4  per  cent.  BiON03.H20 ;  but,  to  say  the  least,  the  process  is 
rather  tedious  and  the  resulting  compound  not  so  satisfactory  as  de- 
sired. 
The  next  method  tried  was  that  of  precipitation  with  hydriodic 
acid  and  freshly  prepared  bismuth  hydroxide,  as  proposed  by  Frank 
X.  Moerk  (Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,  June,  1887,  pp.  273-274).  The 
author  states,  "  the  oxyiodide  so  obtained  is  of  very  fair  color,  and 
contains  no  water  of  crystallization/'  In  this  product,  as  in  all  others 
which  I  examined,  I  found  no  water  of  crystallization.  That  which 
I  obtained  was  very  tough,  almost  unpulverizable,  heavy  and  cakey.  So 
far  as  chemical  composition  is  concerned  it  was  as  good  as  the  average 
samples  found  upon  the  market,  containing  92*9  per  cent.  BiOI,  with 
some  BiON03.H20,  as  in  the  others.  But  the  process  not  only  occu- 
pies too  much  time,  but  requires  a  great  deal  more  skill  and  care  than 
is  necessary  to  produce  a  very  much  better  article. 
The  next  process  tried  was  devised  by  the  same  author  as  the  pre- 
ceding one,  and  consists  in  boiling  certain  quantities  of  BiON03.H20 
and  KI  together  without  the  presence  of  an  acid ;  and,  as  the  preceding 
one  was  remarkable  for  being  complicated,  so  this  one  is  justly  cele- 
brated for  being  extremely  simple.  In  devising  these  manipulations 
the  author  has  surely  touched  both  extremes.  "  The  (supposed)  ad- 
vantages  of  this  method  are,  first,  the  avoidance  of  free  acid;  second, 
its  definite  composition ;  third,  a  higher  percentage  of  BiOI."  The 
first  advantage  (?)  I  readily  admit ;  there  certainly  is  no  free  acid 
present.  Yet  this  could  be  considered  a  good  method  provided  the 
two  latter  advantages  claimed  were  true  for  the  resulting  com- 
pound.   The  samples  made  by  myself,  after  boiling  for  more  than  an 
