'^™Nov.?i888^'''^"}    Permanent  Syrup  of  Ferrous  Iodide.  551 
'  to  combine  with  the  hydrogen  of  the  water,  while  the  freed  oxygen 
of  that  liquid,  with  that  of  the  air,  go  to  form  the  ferric  oxysalt, 
then  the  reaction  could  only  be  explained,  in  chemical  equation,  with 
FeJPs- 
After  the  formation  of  this  ferric  oxysalt  and  iodine,  there  follows 
a  precipitation  of  ferric  hydrate,  which  carries  down  with  it  variable 
quantities  of  free  iodine;  naturally  variable,  according  to  the  extent 
which  the  hydriodic  acid  present  has  decomposed.  If  this  ferric  oxysalt 
is  re2l202,  then  this  secondary  change  could  be  explained  thus : 
Fe2^^^l202  +  O  +  3H2O      Fe26HO  +  I2 
Relative  to  the  fact  that  direct  sunlight  decolorizes  oxidized  syrup 
of  ferrous  iodide,  that  is  most  readily  explained  on  the  ground  of  the 
well  known  reducing  property  possessed  by  the  sun.  This  peculiar 
property  has  been  utilized  by  Alfred  Friih,  in  the  preparation  of  a 
syrup  of  ferrous  chloride  from  the  officinal  solution  of  ferric  chloride 
(see  A.  J.  P.,  1882,  p.  129),  and  another  application  of  it  is  found  in 
the  recommendation  of  Hager,  to  deoxidize  ferrous  chloride  which  has 
been  oxidized  by  exposure  to  air,  by  exposing  it  for  several  hours  to 
direct  sunlight,  and  hence  it  is  easy  to  believe  that  ferric  iodide  in  the 
presence  of  direct  sunlight  is  reduced  also. 
Concerning  the  statement  that  the  precipitated  ferric  hydrate,  with 
its  accompanying  iodine,  yields  at  first,  on  direct  exposure  to  the  sun, 
a  colorless  solution,  that  could  be  explained  on  the  theory  that  there  is 
yet  remaining  undecomposed  a  certain  quantity  of  hydriodic  acid, 
together  with  free  iodine,  which  combine  with  the  precipitated  ferric 
hydrate  to  form  a  ferric  iodide,  or  an  oxy iodide,  which  is  then  re- 
duced. 
The  older  method  of  preserving  syrup  of  iodide  of  iron  with  iron 
wire  was  apparently  successful,  because  it  permitted  the  freed  hydrio- 
dic acid  to  combine  with  the  iron  before  it  could  decompose  into  free 
iodine  and  water,  but  it  seems  plain  that  it  did  not  prevent  the  forma- 
tion of  the  ferric  oxysalt  and  hydriodic  acid,  but  merely  preserved  for 
a  time  the  transparent  color  of  the  syrup,  without  retarding  ultimate 
decomposition. 
Savine  in  Cancer. — According  to  Dr.  Lucse  [Ther.  Monatsh.),  the  per- 
sistent application,  three  times  a  week,  of  powdered  savine  and  burnt  alum 
has  cured  a  case  of  cancer  of  the  ear. 
