Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  "I 
March,  1885.  J 
Citrate  of  Iron  and  Quinine. 
121 
cent,  of  added  spirit  of  nitrous  ether,  has  been  slowly  poured  into  a 
boiling  solution  of  ferric  chloride  and  then  diluted  to  the  proper 
quantity  of  liquid. 
In  closing  it  may  be  well  to  make  some  remarks  of  the  peculiar  ac- 
tion exercised  by  nitrous  acid,  or  certain  of  its  derivatives  upon  solu- 
tions of  ferric  chloride  prepared  by  the  chlorine  process.  When  the 
diluted  liquor  with  5  per  cent,  of  spirit  of  nitrous  ether  was  prepared, 
an  immediate  darkening  of  the  liquid  was  noticed,  which,  upon  the 
application  of  heat,  assumed  a  much  lighter  shade.  A  possible  theory 
of  the  cause  of  this  darkening  in  color  is  that  a  ferric  nitrite  may  be 
formed  from  the  added  nitrous  compound,  which,  upon  heating,  is 
decomposed  by  the  free  hydrochloric  acid  present,  with  the  formation 
of  free  nitrous  acid  and  ferric  chloride. 
CITRATE  OF  IRON  AND  QUININE. 
By  R.  Rother. 
According  to  the  Pharmacopoeia  the  official  trihydrous  quinine 
loses  two  ms.  of  water  at  100°  C,  and  the  remaining  third  m. 
at  |:125°  C.  If  this  be  so  the  quinine  dried  at  the  former  tem- 
perature cannot  be  the  anhydrous  alkaloid.  Yet  in  the  formula 
for  citrate  of  iron  and  quinine  it  is  implied  that  this  is  the  case. 
The  writer,  however,  doubts  this,  and  hence  assumes  that  this  com- 
pound contains  12  per  cent,  of  monohydrous  quinine,  which  would 
give  the  substance,  chemically  considered,  a  molecular  weight  of  2,850. 
This  will  indicate  one  m.  of  quinine  monohydrate  to  about  9*22  ms. 
of  ferric  citrate.  It  is  then  probably  an  indefinite  mixture  of  ferric 
hydrocitrate,  ferric  citrate  and  an  undetermined  quinio-ferric  citrate  held 
in  some  kind  of  chemical  union  by  the  two  former  salts.  A  plausible 
analogy  for  this  view  is  found  in  what  may  be  termed  an  acid  ferric  citrate. 
When  one  m.  of  ferric  citrate  or  2*72  grammes  is  mixed  with  one  m.  of 
citric  acid,  or  2.10  grammes,  then  heated  with  some  water  until  dis- 
solved, finally  evaporated  and  dried  at  a  gentle  heat,  a  product  weighing 
4*91  grammes  is  obtained.  This  result  shows  that  a  definite  compound 
is  formed  having  the  formula  FeCi.II3Ci.3Aq.,  with  a  molecular  weight 
of  491.  The  salt  is  extremely  soluble  but  non-deliquescent.  Its  color 
is  of  a  lighter  tint  than  ferric  citrate.  It  becomes  soft  on  heating,  and 
although  friable  when  cold,  it  is  too  tenacious  for  scaling.  By  replacing 
all  the  basic  hydrogen  with  sodium  or  other  bases,  very  characteristic 
