THE 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
JULY, 1850. 
ART. XLVIII. — ON IMPORTATIONS OF IODINE. 
By Alfred B. Taylor. 
A brief notice of the character of importations of iodine 
within the past year or so, and of the effect upon it, of our 
present commercial regulations for excluding adulterations, 
may perhaps be not devoid of interest to the readers of the 
Journal, as the great and growing usefulness of this article, 
in the arts, as well as in pharmacy, renders it one of con- 
siderable importance. 
Though by no means an abundant substance in nature, 
and though, fifty years ago, even its existence was un- 
known, yet it is tolerably well diffused, being found in 
the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. In the 
mineral, it has been discovered in various metallic ores, 
in the the horn silver of Albarradon, (Mexico ;) in the 
white lead of the mines of Catorce ;* in an ore of zinc 
from Silesia ; in certain coals, as well as in many min- 
eral springs — as the famous Saratoga waters, &c. : in the 
vegetable, it is found in almost all sea plants, in some, gro w- 
ing in fresh water lakes, and in a few of Mexico, growing 
on the plains and the mountains : in the animal, it is met 
* Am. Jour. Pharm., Vol. ix., 177. 
17 
