50  Syrup  of  Phosphate  of  Iron,  etc.      { AM^jjf;  £?7A3EM" 
phosphoric  acid  with  the  concentrated  liq.  aminoniae,  and  lastly  mix  the 
two  solutions  in  sufficient  dense  syrup  to  measure  forty-two  ounces. 
This  formula,  which  is  based  on  the  same  principle  as  the  ammonio- 
citrate,  ammonio-tartrate  and  other  salts  of  iron  combining  a  neutral 
salt  with  an  alkali  base,  produces  a  ferric  syrup  which  is  scarcely  in- 
ferior to  iron  by  hydrogen  in  therapeutical  power,  and  surpasses  all 
other  syrups  in  permanency.  I  have  never  known  it  to  precipitate  the 
iron  salt  or  undergo  decomposition.  It  is  too  expensive  and  difficult 
to  prepare  to  supersede  Easton's  formula,  and  although  very  superior 
to  it  in  chlorosis,  neuralgia  and  some  types  of  ansemia,  its  use  is  more 
circumscribed,  and  must  yield  the  palm  to  that  splendid  preparation 
as  a  general  tonic.  In  diseases  attended  with  derangement  of  the 
nervous  system,  I  have  derived  very  satisfactory  results  from  this 
combination,  even  after  I  have  failed  to  derive  advantage  from  the 
syrup  of  Easton.  In  broken  down  cases  of  gout,  rheumatism,  scrofula, 
general  cachexia,  syphilis  and  uterine  diseases  attended  with  chronic 
engorgement  and  relaxation  of  uterus  and  appendages,  I  have  often 
found  it  to  exceed  in  efficacy  my  fondest  expectations.  In  1866, 
while  surgeon  in  charge  of  the  U.  S.  Quarantine  Hospital,  Charles- 
ton,  S.  C,  I  wished  to  make  this  preparation,  but  could  not  obtain 
the  phosphoric  acid,  and  was  by  necessity  led  to  devise  a  formula  by 
which  iron,  quinia  and  strychnia  could  be  formed  into  a  syrup  with- 
out the  aid  of  free  phosphoric  acid. 
The  liquor  ferri  citratis  suggested  to  me  a  combination  of  the  same 
strength  in  syrup  form,  independent  of  the  pyrophosphate,  in  which 
the  phosphate  of  iron  would  be  held  in  solution  by  the  aid  of  citrate 
of  potassa.  My  first  experiments  with  officinal  freshly  precipitated 
phosphate  of  iron  did  not  give  satisfactory  results.  I  next  precipi- 
tated the  phosphate  of  iron  from  Monsel's  solution  by  using  twelve 
ounces  of  the  crystals  of  phosphate  of  soda  to  sixteen  fluid-ounces  of 
the  iron  solution,  and  obtained  not  a  very  satisfactory  syrup,  but 
some  of  it,  concentrated  and  dried  between  plates  like  the  pyrophos- 
phates, furnished  very  perfect  scales  of  an  olive  green  color  and  even 
more  soluble  than  the  pyrophosphate  scales.  By  increasing  the  amount 
to  seventeen  ounces  and  six  drachms  of  the  phosphate  of  soda,  I  ob- 
tained a  magma  which,  with  about  half  the  amount  of  potassa  citrate 
required  in  the  phosphate  of  the  ammonio-citrate,  without  difficulty, 
by  the  assistance  ot  gentle  heat,  formed  a  very  perfect  and  perma- 
nent syrup  of  the  strength  of  the  liq.  ferri  citratis,  or  one  hundred 
and  twenty  grains  of  the  iron  salt  to  the  ounce. 
