20  ON  COMMERCIAL  IRON    BY  HYDROGEN. 
caustic  soda,  (2  parts  to  100  of  water,)  until  it  has  removed  the 
coloring  matter,  kinic  and  tannic  acids  and  extractive  matters. 
The  residue  is  washed  with  water,  dried,  and  extracted  with  al- 
cohol till  exhausted,  and  the  alcohol  distilled  off  so  as  to  obtain 
an  extract.  The  extract  consists  almost  wholly  of  quinia  and 
ciachonia,  and  is  free  from  tannin,  and  though  not  soluble  in 
wine  alone,  becomes  so  by  aid  of  citric  acid. 
The  dose  of  this  preparation  is  a  teaspoonful. 
Now  it  must  be  apparent  to  any  one  who  reflects  on  what 
occurs  in  the  preparation  of  this  extract,  that  there  is  nothing 
medicinal  in  it  except  quinia  and  cinchona.  If  so,  why  not  use 
the  officinal  salts  of  these  bases  in  the  proportion  that  they 
occur  on  the  average  in  Calisaya  bark,  which  is  about  five  of 
quinia  to  one  of  cinchonia,  making  a  due  allowance  for  inert 
matter  present? 
As  regards  the  quantity  of  these  salts  that  should  be  era- 
ployed  in  such  a  substitution,  it  could  only  be  determined  by  an 
ano^lytical  examination  of  the  Extract  itself.  If  Ellis's  Precip- 
itated Extract  of  Calisaya  will  not  blacken  the  persalts  of 
Iron  it  may  very  properly  be  used  instead  of  the  Extract  of 
Mr.  Hubbell  by  Herring's  process,  but  of  its  quality  in  this  re- 
spect I  am  not  aware. 
A  wine  of  citrate  of  iron  and  quinia,  made  by  dissolving  16 
to  24  grains  of  citrate  of  iron  and  quinia,  in  a  fluid  ounce 
of  sherry  wine,  has  been  prepared  by  several  apothecaries ; 
and  in  the  last  edition  of  Parrish's  Pharmacy  a  formula  for 
Bitter  Wine  of  Iron  is  found,  analogous  to  that  of  Hubbell's, 
Ellis's  Precipitated  Extract  of  Calisaya  being  employed. 
ON  COMMERCIAL  IRON  BY  HYDROGEN. 
By  Jno.  M.  Maisch. 
The  superiority  of  iron  reduced  by  hydrogen  consists  in  its  > 
fine  division,  its  ready  solubility  even  in  weak  acids  and  its 
purity,  particularly  in  the  absence  of  sulphur  and  carbon,  which  | 
evolve  sulphuretted  or  carburetted  hydrogen,  when  the  prepara-  j 
tion  is  submitted  to  the  influence  of  diluted  acids.  These  gases  \ 
are  of  course  likewise  evolved  on  the  introduction  of  the  iron  i 
