REPORT ON NEW FERRUGINOUS PILLS. 
251 
Each pill contains 1.3 grains of carbonate of iron, or 0.3 
grains of protoxide; ten pills represent thirteen grains of 
carbonate, or eight grains of protoxide.* 
The committee have scrupulously repeated the experiments 
of M. Vallet, and found them exact. The following advan- 
tages are possessed by the formula: 
1. Because it affords the means of administering the proto- 
carbonate of iron in constant doses, without fear of the 
medicine changing in the course of use. 
2. Because the form that has been chosen prevents the 
disgust induced by the acerb taste of salts of iron, and espe- 
cially because the excipient is very soluble, and secures the 
action of the medicinal base. 
It remains to determine what is the medicinal value of 
carbonate of iron employed under this form. Let us see the 
summary of results obtained by one of the committee. 
We have employed the ferruginous preparation of M. 
Vallet, in pills, in the cases of seven chlorotic patients, aged 
from fourteen to twenty-five years, presenting the peculiar 
palor of this disease, the palpitations and the bruit de soufle 
of the carotid arteries, the throbbing of the head and the 
feeling of debility which such patients complain of, the 
oppression which overcomes them, the feeble digestion and 
want of power of the muscular system which is always ob- 
served. The youngest of these patients had not menstruated, 
the others were irregular, or deficient in the menstrual secre- 
tion. 
None of them exhibited hysterical symptoms. The dose 
of the ferruginous preparation was carried, in all, to ten pills 
daily; they were always easily taken by the patients. So 
far from disturbing the digestive functions, these were ren- 
dered better and more active by them, and they never pro- 
duced the developement of gas which often accompanies the 
use of iron filings, or subcarbonate of iron. In the youngest 
* A small quantity of iron is in the state of a soluble salt, in combina- 
tion with the acid always contained in the honey. 
