SYRUP  OF  PROTONITRATE  OF  IRON 
455 
which  remained  from  the  cooling  of  a  boiling  solution.  M.  Leers 
probably  treated  the  sulphate  directly  with  cold  water.) 
5th.  The  oxalate  of  quinine  is  completely  insoluble  in  water. 
The  oxalate  of  quinidine  is  very  soluble,  and  crystallizes  readily 
by  the  cooling  or  the  evaporation  of  the  liquor.  Want  of  material 
prevented  the  further  investigation  of  this  substance. — Annals  of 
Pharm.  from  Journ.  de  Pharmacie. 
SINGULAR  CHANGE  IN  THE  SYRUP  OF  PROTONITRATE  OF 
IRON. 
By  W.  Tozier. 
About  twelve  months  since,  I  prepared  a  pint  of  this  syrup  ac- 
cording to  the  formula  of  Mr.  Procter,  in  the  "  American  Journal 
of  Pharmacy,"  which  possessed  the  different  qualities  he  there 
describes  of  its  excellence.  Not  being  in  immediate  use,  it  wras 
laid  aside  in  a  cold  situation  for  some  time,  during  which  it  still 
retained  its  transparency,  and  showed  no  disposition  whatever  to 
change,  at  least  so  far  as  the  iron  salt  was  concerned.  About  two 
months  since,  my  attention  being  directed  to  it,  I  was  surprised  to 
find  deposited  on  the  bottom  of  the  bottle,  a  considerable  deposit 
of  white  granular  masses,  which  I  at  once  determined  to  be  grape 
sugar,  and  these  I  observed  to  continue  increasing  daily  up  to  the 
present  time,  until  the  entire  contents  of  the  bottle  became  one 
concrete  mass,  in  quantity  much  exceeding  the  original  amount  of 
sugar  employed.  In  dissolving  some  of  this  granular  mass  in  dis- 
tilled water,  and  precipitating  the  iron  by  means  of  sesquicar- 
bonate  of  ammonia,  I  was  enabled  by  Dr.  Donaldson's  t£st,  as 
well  as  Moore's  potash  test,  to  determine  the  correctness  of  my 
opinion  in  the  first  instance.  This  alteration,  no  doubt,  occurred 
from  the  fact  of  the  solution  of  protonitrate  of  iron  being  slightly 
acid,  in  the  first  instance,  which  appeared  to  be  unavoidable  during 
the  process,  and  which,  after  some  lapse  of  time,  led  to  the  same 
molecular  conversion  of  cane  sugar  into  grape  sugar,  that  sul- 
phuric acid,  as  well  as  organic  acids,  are  known  to  do.— Annals  of 
Pharmacy ,  April,  1853. 
