402 
Syrup  of  Iodide  of  Iron. 
/Am. Jour  Pharm. 
t      Aug.,  1881. 
being  accomplished  by  placing  them  in  a  line  on  the  top  of  a  very  high 
shelfj  in  a  well-lighted  room,  out  of  the  reach  of  direct  sunlight  as  well 
as  of  investigating  juveniles.  When  the  last  experiment  had  been 
finished,  all  the  corks  were  removed  from  the  bottles,  and  they  were 
allowed  to  stand  for  several  weeks.  By  the  end  of  this  time,  a  great 
change  of  color  had  taken  place  in  some  of  the  syrup,  a  portion  of  it 
being  decidedly  of  a  dark  brown  color  throughout  its  depth  ;  another 
portion  had  not  apparently  changed  in  the  slightest  degree  from  its 
normal  color  (very  light  green),  while  the  remainder  of  the  syrup  was 
of  various  shades,  between  a  dark  brown  and  a  very  light  green.  The 
bottles  were  then  re-arranged  in  the  order  of  the  amount  of  decompo- 
sition that  had  taken  place,  the  bottle  that  contained  the  darkest  (dark 
brown)  syrup  being  placed  at  one  end  (the  left)  of  the  line,  then  follow- 
ing it  the  next  darkest,  and  so  on,  until  the  other  end  (the  right)  of 
the  line  was  reached,  which  contained  the  syrup  that  had  not  been 
changed  at  all.  (This  was  done  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the 
comparative  rapidity  of  the  decomposition  among  the  specimens.)  In 
this  order  they  have  remained.  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  looking 
at  them  occasionally  ever  since.  But  now  conies  the  strangest  part 
of  all. 
About  two  weeks  ago  my  attention  was  again  called  to  them,  and, 
strange  to  relate,  they  had  all,  with  the  exception  of  two,  resumed  their 
original  normal  color  (very  light  green). 
The  two  unrestored  specimens  occupied  relatively  the  fifth  and  elev- 
enth positions  from  the  previously  most  changed  end  (the  left)  of  the 
series. 
The  fifth  was  made  by  adding  5  grs.  of  reduced  iron  to  one  pound 
of  the  syrup  (containing  somewhat  more  sugar  than  the  officinal). 
This  specimen  is  now  of  a  light  brownish-yellow  color,  whereas  all  the 
four  experiments  to  its  left,  previously  darker,  are  noio  of  their  original 
color  (very  light  green). 
The  eleventh  was  made  by  adding  5  grs.  of  hyposulphite  of  sodium 
to  one  pound  of  syrup  as  before.  This  is  now  of  a  light  yellowish- 
green  color,  and  contains  a  precipitate  of  sulphur.  All  the  experi- 
ments to  its  left,  with  the  exception  of  one  (the  fifth,  previously 
noticed)  are  now  lighter,  not  having  any  yellowish  tint  at  all. 
On  Aug.  10th,  1880,  I  made  Syr.  Ferri  lodidi  strictly  according 
to  the  Pharmacopoeia,  and  as  I  had  twenty  fluidounces,  I  filled  a  pint 
bottle,  and  put  the  residue  of  four  fluidounces  in  another  pint  bottle. 
