ALBUMINATE OF IRON. 
133 
ART. XXIX. — ALBUMINATE OF IRON. 
BY MR. A. J. COO LEY. 
This preparation, better known in France than England, 
is usually prepared by the following method: — 
Albumen, or white of egg, is diluted with distilled water; 
the mixture is filtered, and a solution of persulphate of iron 
is added until precipitation ceases; the deposit is then 
washed and dissolved in alkalized* alcohol. It is very 
evident, however, that this solution does not answer to its 
name, and in this state, from the amount of alkali it con- 
tains, will prove unfit for administration, in many cases 
where chalybeate tonics are indicated. 
It has been my endeavor to remove this objection, and 
after some experiments for that purpose, I find the solution 
of albuminate of iron is best made by dissolving its hydrous 
oxides in the newly diluted and filtered white of egg, which 
takes up a considerable portion of both the freshly precipi- 
tated protoxide and sesquioxide. The liquid may be filtered, 
and vvill be found, by testing, to contain a large proportion 
of metal. In the case of the sesquioxide in particular, the 
solution vvill keep for some time without decomposition, 
and its permanence may be further increased by adding a 
little alcohol, with which it will mix without precipitation. 
In this respect it resembles many other preparations of the 
same oxide. I have now before me two four-ounce phials 
of this preparation— the one with spirit, the other without 
any. The simple solution was made about ten days since, 
and placed in a temperate situation, loosely corked, for the 
* Caustic potassa must be used. 
12* 
