138 FERRUGINATED PILL OF MERCURY. 
ART. XXXI. — THE FERRUGINATED PILL OF MERCURY. 
BY DR. COLLIER. 
The varying and unsatisfactory quality of our " blue- 
pill" has for many years attracted attention. In my second 
edition of the London Pharmacopoeia, I gave the outline of 
a formula for preparing it with sesquioxide of iron; the 
further experience of years enables me to offer this prepara- 
tion as a boon to the profession and to the public, for it may 
be proved that the iron enters along with the mercury into 
the blood, and saves the wear and tear of the human body 
under its use. I will not at this time canvass, because I 
doubt, the probability of the sesquioxide (in double equiva- 
lents) yielding up one atom of its oxygen to the mercury, 
as is the opinion of several chemists to whom I have sub- 
mitted this compound. I am aware that other peroxides, 
when moist, will similarly combine and divide mercurial 
globules; and I will not now enter upon the series of in- 
complete experiments instituted by myself to prove that 
mercury will amalgamate with other metallic oxides, and 
in this state form double or triple salts with acids. I shall 
now keep Only to the practical utility of my compound, 
and to its. importance as a great remedial improvement. 
The following is the formula: 
Ferri sesquioxydi, 5j. 
Hydrargyri, 
Confect: Rosce Gallicae, oiij. 
Contere donee globuli non amplius conspiciantur. 
It is made in five minuses; common blue-pill demands a 
w T eek. The globules are not visible, even by the micros- 
cope. It is uniform in its appearance and effects. It makes 
a smoother pill, retaining its form more permanently. It 
salivates in a few days in the usual doses. It is particularly 
