348 
Citrate  of  Iron  and  Strychnine. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharin. 
July,  1888. 
it  is  given  in  doses  of  from  20  to  25  gm.  in  decoction.  Eucalyptus 
is  well  known  by  its  prophylactic  influence  over  intermittents.  Are- 
naria  rubra  is  used  for  gravel  and  vesical  catarrh.  Date  shells  are 
employed  as  an  aliment  and  as  a  styptic  in  certain  cases  of  atonic 
diarrhoea.  Lantana  is  rich  in  essential  oils  and  is  used  in  sitz  baths 
for  the  acute  colics  of  dysmenorrhoea ;  also  for  anaemia.  For  muco- 
purulent, vaginal  discharges  it  is  used  as  an  injection.  Schinus  Molle 
is  used  for  making  preparations  for  curing  blenorrhagia.  Finally, 
gazelle^s  musk  is  used  as  a  substitute  for  that  of  the  deer. — Bulletin  gin. 
deth&rap.,  May  15,  1888. 
CITKATE  OF  IRON  AND  STRYCHNINE. 
By  Dr.  E.  R.  Squibb. 
The  Pharmacopoeia  of  1870,  yielding  to  the  popular  demand  for 
ready-made  arbitrary  combinations,  introduced  the  citrate  of  iron  and 
strychnine,  and  the  present  revision  retained  it,  adding  a  very  good 
paragraph  of  description  and  tests. 
The  preparation  is  a  simple  mixture  of  citrate  of  iron  and  ammo- 
nium with  citrate  of  strychnine — or  of  an  iron  salt  with  a  strychnine 
salt,  without  any  known  advantage,  but  with  the  rational  disadvan- 
tage of  a  fixed  relation  between  two  agents  which  are  rarely  needed  in 
the  same  proportion  or  for  the  same  length  of  time  in  any  two  cases. 
Its  usage  seems  to  depend  upon  its  convenience  to  those  physicians 
who  prefer  to  have  the  proportions  of  their  agents  fixed  for  them  be- 
forehand. The  original  intention  of  the  mixture  was,  doubtless,  that 
it  should  be  given  in  the  solid  condition,  in  powder,  pill  or  capsule, 
but  of  late  it  has  become  common  to  give  it  in  solution,  and  it  is  the 
object  of  this  note  to  state  that  it  is  not  permanent  in  solution. 
When  made  in  strict  accordance  with  the  U.  S.  P.  process  a  whitish 
deposit  will  begin  to  settle  out  within  two  or  three  hours,  and  will 
continue  to  increase  at  the  bottom  of  the  solution  during  many  days. 
A  slight  increase  in  the  proportion  of  ammonia  or  of  citrate  of  am- 
monia will  retard  the  decomposition  for  a  shprt  time,  and  will  redis- 
solve  the  precipitate  when  formed,  and  in  this  way  it  may  be  made  to 
stand  about  a  day  or  two  longer  for  each  2  per  cent,  of  citrate  of 
ammonia  added  to  replace  as  much  citrate  of  iron  and  ammonia,  but 
no  proportion  tried  has  rendered  the  solutions  permanent  for  a  longer 
