ON HYDRATED PEROXIDE OF IRON. 
239 
ART. LI.— AN EXAMINATION OF THE TESTIMONY RELA- 
TIVE TO THE EFFICACY OF THE HYDRATED PEROXIDE 
OF IRON AS AN ANTIDOTE TO ARSENIC, WITH DIREC- 
TIONS FOR ITS PREPARATION AND EXHIBITION. By T. 
Romeyn Beck, M. D. 
It is now about six years since the use of the peroxide of 
iron was introduced to the notice of the public. It has been 
made the subject of numerous, and for the most part satisfac- 
tory, experiments on animals ; it has been frequently exhibit- 
ed to persons poisoned with arsenic, and in many instances 
with success ; it is also a substance very easily prepared, 
and one that can always be kept on hand, either by the phy- 
sician or druggist. 
These circumstances might be supposed sufficient to estab- 
lish firmly the character of any antidote, and I do not doubt but 
that it is thus viewed by those who have from time to time 
noticed the testimony adduced in its favor. But this has, in 
many instances, consisted of brief notices of successful cases 
or experiments, scattered through the selections and summa- 
ries of Medical Journals, and hence has possibly not made 
that impression which a collection of the whole would pro- 
duce. With a view to promote that desirable object, and at 
the same time to urge an early exhibition of this substance in 
all cases of poisoning by arsenic, I have ventured to prepare 
the following observations. I propose to follow the following 
order. 1. A notice of the discovery. 2. The results of ex- 
periments on animals. 3. The efficacy of its exhibition on 
man. 4. The mode of its preparation and exhibition. 
I. The earliest notice that I have seen of the efficacy of 
peroxide of iron as an antidote, is contained in a letter ad- 
dressed to M. Poggendorf, the editor of a German Scientific 
Journal by Dr. Bunsen, bearing date Gottingen, May 1, 
