NOTE  ON  ALCOHOLIZED  IRON. 
11 
NOTE  ON  "ALCOHOLIZED  IRON." 
By  the  Editor. 
A  preparation  of  metallic,  iron,  under  this  name,  is  imported 
from  Germany,  where  it  is  employed  for  internal  use  in  the 
manner  of  iron  by  hydrogen.  Its  general  aspect  is  that  of  pow- 
dered plumbago,  but  with  an  ordinary  pocket  lens  its  particles 
are  observed  to  possess  metallic  lustre,  and  are  rounded  and 
flattened,  as  would  result  from  attrition.  We  have  no  very  posi- 
tive information  relative  to  the  commercial  origin  of  this  pow- 
der, or  of  the  manner  of  its  manufacture.  Its  invoice  price  ia 
about  forty  cents  per  pound.  It  is  said  to  be  produced  in  west- 
ern Austria,  Styria,  or  the  Tyrol,  and  it  is  supposed  to  be  pro- 
duced by  attrition,  in  some  cheap  way,  as  by  agitation  on  the 
gate  of  a  saw  mill,  or  steam  machinery.  The  term  "  alcoholized  " 
is  common  in  Germany,  and  is  applied  to  powders  in  the  sense 
of  a  high  grade  of  fineness  and  purity, — just  as  the  term 
"sethereal"  is  applied  to  oils,  signifying  that  th'ey  are  highly 
rectified, — and  hence  does  not  indicate  that  alcohol  is  used  in 
making  them.  Duflos  (Chemischen  Arzeneimitteln)  describes 
this  preparation  under  the  name  "  Ferrum  pulveratum"  and 
gives  the  synonyms  Pulvis.  s.  Alcohol  Ferri,  Limatura  Martis 
levigata,  Limaille  de  Fer  porphyrisee,  Fer  porphyrisee,  &c. 
Alcoholized  iron  is  readily  attacked  by  cool  diluted  sulphuric 
acid,  but  not  so  quickly  nor  with  such  rapid  effervescence  as  is 
good  reduced  iron.  When  an  excess  of  acid  is  used,  a  small 
quantity  of  very  fine  black  powder  remains,  suggesting  the 
possibility  of  its  being  cast  iron.  The  gas  evolved  was  nearly 
all  free  from  sulphur,  but  at  the  last,  traces  of  ELS.  are  indica- 
ted when  moistened  carbonate  of  lead  paper  is  suspended  in  the 
mouth  of  the  flask. 
Limaille  de  fer  porphyrisee  of  French  pharmacy  is  made  by 
purifying  iron  filings  from  particles  of  other  metals  by  aid  of  a, 
good  magnet,  sifting  out  the  first  dust,  if  at  all  rusty,  after  first 
triturating  them  in  an  iron  mortar  ;  but  it  is  better  to  begin 
with  recent  unoxidized  filings.  These  are  beaten  in  a  thin 
stratum  in  a  mortar  in  which  the  bottom  is  very  flat,  and  the 
face  of  the  pestle  of  corresponding  curve,  using  the  sieve  from 
