Anj.  Jour.  Pbarm.  i 
August,  1903.  J 
Bashams  Mixture. 
383 
color  indicates  ferric  salt,  which  is  easily  reduced  by  the  addition  of 
stannous  chloride);  dilute  with  50-75  c.  c.  water,  add  10  c.  c. 
mercuric  chloride  solution  (5  per  cent.)  and  titrate  with  potassium 
bichromate  ;  calculate  results  as  before. 
The  results  obtained  in  III,  which  gives  the  total  iron  contents  as 
ferrous  carbonate,  being  the  lowest  of  the  several  determinations, 
clearly  prove  the  statement  made  in  the  beginning  of  this  paper. 
Methods  I  and  II  give  too  high  results,  due  to  the  action  of  the 
organic  matter  upon  the  volumetric  reagent.  Method  III,  while 
giving  the  quantity  of  ferrous  carbonate  originally  present,  cannot 
give  the  amount  actually  present  at  the  time  of  the  assay,  although 
under  no  condition  could  the  quantity  found  in  III  be  exceeded,  as 
I  and  II  would  indicate. 
Attention  is  directed  to  a  source  of  difficulty  which  may  be  expe- 
rienced in  titrating  ferrous  salts  with  potassium  bichromate.  In 
preparing  a  fresh  solution  of  potassium  ferricyanide  for  use  as  an 
indicator,  the  crystal  should  be  washed  several  times  with  small 
quantities  of  distilled  water  until  these  washings  give  only  a  brown- 
ish color  with  a  pure  ferric  salt,  before  making  the  solution ;  this  is 
necessary  to  remove  potassium  ferrocyanide,  which  is  produced  by 
exposure  of  the  ferricyanide  to  light  and  air. 
BASHAM'S  MIXTURE.1 
By  Joseph  W.  England. 
In  this  section  of  the  country,  at  least,  there  is  probably  no  more 
popular  ferruginous  diuretic  than  the  well-known  solution  of  iron 
and  ammonium  acetate,  or  Basham's  Mixture.  As  a  matter  of  his- 
tory, it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  preparation  originated  with 
Dr.  William  Richard  Basham,  of  London,  who,  I  am  informed,  on 
the  authority  of  Dr.  William  Murrell,  the  well-known  therapeutist 
of  London,  was  a  physician  to  the  Westminster  Hospital  from  1843 
to  1877.  "In  the  latter  year,"  writes  Dr.  Murrell,  "he  was  seized 
with  apoplexy  while  in  the  hospital,  and  died  a  few  months  later. 
He  rarely  contributed  to  medical  literature,  but,  I  think,  wrote  a 
book  on  '  Diseases  of  the  Kidneys.'  There  is  a  portrait  of  him  in 
the  board  room  of  the  hospital." 
xRead  at  the  meeting  of  the  Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Association,  June, 
1903,  and  communicated  by  the  author. 
