Am.  Jour.  Pharm.l 
Nov.,  1884.  J 
Iodine  in  Marine  Products. 
583 
rich  in  iodine.  The  Anglo-Portuguese  variety  has  been  specially 
reported  on.  These  oysters  are  obtained  from  about  thirty  miles  of 
coast  extending  from  Lisbon  to  Cacillias  Point,  and  are  nursed  and 
fattened  in  England. 
Dr.  Champouillon;  of  Paris,  published  a  report  on  these  oysters  in 
1876,  from  which  the  following  is  an  extract: 
"  Oysters  fattened  on  the  English  coast  and  submitted  to  the  same 
analytical  processes  are  found  to  be  far  less  rich  in  iodine  and  bromine 
than  those  of  Portugal.  These  latter,  owing  to  their  special  constitu- 
ents, represent  a  valuable  dietary  article  of  a  nature  to  prevent  scrofula, 
ganglionary  gathering,  rachitis  and  perhaps  also  phthisis,  among  classes 
condemned  to  physiological  misery  by  the  very  conditions  of  their 
existence.  The  Portuguese  oyster  deserves  therefore  to  engage  the 
attention  of  medical  men." 
He  found  that  1  kilo  gave  760  grams  of  water  and  '039  gram  of 
iodine,  and  '062  gram  of  bromine,  or  iodine  '0039  per  cent,  and  bromine 
•0062  per  cent.  My  attention  was  called  to  this  report  at  Southport, 
and  I  took  some  trouble  to  secure  a  supply  of  genuine  Anglo-Porto- 
guese  oysters.  The  amount  of  iodine  found  was  "00004  per  cent,  or  4 
parts  in  ten  millions.  Whatever,  therefore,  may  be  the  value  of  oysters 
in  the  maladies  alluded  to  above,  we  may  be  permitted  to  doubt  if  any 
of  these  advantages  are  due  to  the  iodine  contained  therein. 
Sponge. — Spongia  usta,  or  burnt  sponge,  was  long  used  as  a  medicine, 
and  was  formerly  official  in  the  Dublin  Pharmacopoeia.  According  to 
Pereira,  it  was  employed  "as  a  resolvent  in  bronchocele  and  scrofulous 
enlargement  of  the  lymphatic  glands.  Its  efficacy  is  referable  to  the 
presence  of  iodine  and  bromine."  The  tests  employed  show  that  the 
iodine  was  the  element  required  in  it. 
Herberger  found  in  it,  iodide  of  potassium,  1*16  per  cent.  ==  iodine, 
0*887  per  cent.;  bromide  of  potassium,  0*702  per  cent.  =  bromine  0*48 
per  cent,  and  traces  of  copper. 
Preuss  found,  iodide  of  potassium,  2*14  per  cent.  =  iodine,  1*636 
per  cent.,  and  bromide  of  sodium,  0*76  per  cent.  =  bromine,  0*59  per 
cent. 
Posselt  found  3*59  per  cent  of  ash. 
Cookewit  found  3*7  per  cent,  of  ash  and  1*09  per  cent,  of  iodine, 
also  0*50  per  cent,  of  sulphur  and  1*90  per  cent,  of  phosphorus. 
I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  D.  Frazer,  of  Glasgow,  for  a  supply  of  fine 
sponges,  and  I  append  the  results  of  analyses  of  these. 
