Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
Feb  ,  1879.  j 
Aceto-Nitrate  of  Iron, 
show  that  not  more  than  *J  per  cent,  of  the  alcohol  taken  passes  in 
the  urine  unchanged. 
By  concentrating  fluids  supposed  to  contain  alcohol  by  one  or  more 
distillations,  exceedingly  minute  traces  can  be  detected  by  this  pro- 
cess, especially  if  only  one-tenth  instead  of  one-fifth  be  distilled. — 
Pharm.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  Nov.,  1878. 
PRELIMINARY    NOTE  ON  ACETO-NITRATE  OF  IRON 
AS  A  MEDICINAL  AGENT.1 
By  John  Williams. 
Some  few  years  back,  M.  Scheurer-Kestner  ("Ann.  Chim.  et  Phy- 
sique," third  series,  vol.  lxiii,  p.  422,  and  Watts'  "  Chemistry,"  first 
suppl.,  p.  11)  pointed  out  the  existence  of  a  series  of  salts,  formed  by 
the  combination  of  peracetate  and  pernitrate  of  iron.  The  descrip- 
tion given  of  these  salts  is  not  very  clear  or  definite,  and  would  lead 
one  to  suppose  that  the  compounds  formed  by  the  union  of  these  two 
salts  of  iron  were  so  readily  decomposable  as  to  preclude  any  hope  of 
utilizing  them  for  commercial  or  therapeutic  purposes.  Still  these 
salts,  if  they  could  be  readily  prepared,  promised  to  be  of  such  ser- 
vice that  it  was  determined  to  make  some  experiments  to  settle  that 
question,  and  I  am  indebted  to  my  friend  Mr.  Miles  Smith  for  sug- 
gesting and  undertaking  the  work  of  preparing  these  salts  and  investi- 
gating the  nature  of  the  products  obtained. 
Various  processes  are  mentioned  by  Mr.  Kestner  for  producing  these 
salts. >  The  addition  of  a  strong  solution  of  acetate  of  iron  to  one  of 
nitrate,  the  addition  of  nitric  acid  to  solution  of  acetate,  or  of  acetic 
acid  to  a  solution  of  the  nitrate,  or  the  solution  of  hydrated  ferric 
oxide  in  a  mixture  of  the  two  acids,  and  one  or  two  other  processes 
are  named,  and,  according  to  the  author,  yield  salts  of  varying  consti- 
tution, and  named  by  him  respectively  mono-,  di-,  tri-  and  tetraceto 
dinitrate  of  iron.    He,  however,   mentions  that  the  tetraceto  salt, 
f(C2H30)4 
having  the  composition  Fe2<  NOs         +4  aq.,  crystallizes  in  hard,, 
(HO 
shining,  red-brown  rhombic  prisms,  and  is  less  deliquescent  than  the 
other  acetonitrates. 
1  Read  at  the  Evening  Meeting  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain, 
Dec.  4,  1878. 
