172 
ON PERCHLORIDE OF IRON. 
took four specimens of the chloride, one of which had been 
prepared by M. Soubeiran, and the other three by myself. 
One gramme of each was decomposed by a gentle heat, 
and the decomposition assisted by the addition, from time 
to time, of a few drops of nitric acid. The four specimens 
afforded products of sesquioxide of iron very nearly the 
same. That prepared by M. Soubeiran afforded 0.393, and 
the three others, 0.392, 0.385, and 0.380. The mean of 
these four quantities is 3.875, which represents 26.86 per 
cent, of iron. But 26.86 of iron requires 52.58 of chlorine 
to form sesquichloride, so that it follows that 100 parts of 
the chloride consist of 
Iron, - - - - - 26.86 
Chlorine, 52.58 
Water, 20.56 
100.00 
This chloride contains about one-fifth of its weight of 
water, or rather less than five atoms, for five atoms would 
be in the proportion of 21.9 per cent. It corresponds with 
the hydrate, containing five atoms of water, of M. Fristche. 
The process that I propose has, then, the great advantage 
of affording a chloride entirely soluble, which has a compo- 
sition sensibly uniform, and which may be kept for a long 
time, objects which have not hitherto been attained. 
Pharmaceutical Journal, from Journal de Pharmacie. 
