136  Reduced  Iron  and  Iron  Fills.  {'^"MaSfm'"'^' 
water.  A  quantity  of  the  salt  was  prepared  by  boiling  pure  oxide  of 
antimony  and  potassium  bitartrate  in  distilled  water,  crystallizing  and 
powdering.  Tbe  tests  mentioned  above  on  being  applied  to  this  salt^ 
showed  the  behaviour  stated ;  but  the  solubility  agreed  very  nearly 
with  that  given  in  the  Pharmacopoeia. 
The  following  are  the  results  obtained  (the  method  for  determining 
the  solubilities  is  not  described) : 
Solubility  of  one  part  of  tartar  emetic  : 
OWN  MAKE.         No.  1.  No.  2,  No.  3. 
In  17i  parts.    In  20  parts.    In  26  parts.  In  18  parts  of  water  at  15''  C. 
In  3     "       In    3.}   "     In  5     "  In  3}   "    of  boiling  water. 
REDUCED  IRON  AND  IRON  PILLS. 
By  Henry  McDavit,  Ph.G. 
Abstract  from  a  Thesis. 
Four  samples  of  commercial  pills  of  reduced  iron  were  examined 
mainly  with  the  view  of  ascertaining  whether  the  iron  would  answer 
to  the  tests  given  in  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia.  When  dis- 
solved in  diluted  sulphuric  acid,  the  hydrogen  gas  given  off  was  nearly 
odorless.  A  sufficient  number  of  pills,  corresponding  to  ten  grains  of 
reduced  iron,  was  disintegrated  in  water,  the  undissolved  portion  col- 
lected upon  a  filter,  and  this  was  then  introduced  into  a  flask  contain- 
ing the  quantity  of  potassium  iodide  and  iodine  required  by  the  Phar- 
macopoeia. The  compressed  pills,  not  being  disintegrated  by  digestion 
with  water,  were  powdered  and  treated  as  stated.  None  of  the  sam- 
ples yielded  a  green  colored  liquid. 
Of  two  samples  of  reduced  iron  tested  in  the  same  manner,  one  did 
not  give  a  green  colored  solution ;  but  the  other  did,  and  therefore 
contained  at  least  eighty  per  cent,  of  metallic  iron.  Pills  made  of  the 
latter  sample  showed  the  same  behaviour;  but  it  is  not  stated  whether 
they  were  kept  on  hand  for  any  length  of  time  before  testing  them. 
The  absolute  amount  of  metallic  iron  present  was  not  determined. 
Sodium  sulphobenzoate  as  an  application  to  wounds  is 
highly  recommended  by  M.  Heckel,  of  Marseilles,  who  has  employed  it  in  the 
Hopital  St.-Mandrier,  at  Toulon.  Stress  is  laid  upon  the  fact  that  it  is  free  from 
the  occasional  unj^leasant  effects  of  many  other  antiseptics  used  for  the  same 
purpose.— iV.  Y.  Med.  Jour.  Dec.  24,  1887. 
