58 
ON THE PREPARATION OF IODIDE OF IRON. 
ployment of the preparation which arises from the difficulty 
of preserving it ; and, as the solution can be made of any de- 
finite strength, it forms an excellent mode of prescribing it, 
for the deliquescent nature of the salt renders it necessary to 
prescribe it always in solution. I have long been in the habit 
of prescribing it in a solution of three grains to a fluid drachm, 
a strength which enables it to be ordered in small doses with 
more facility than the Edinburgh solution, as every minim 
contains one-twentieth of a grain of the Iodide. 
It might reasonably be argued, that the solution properly 
prepared, and preserved with a coil of wire in it, is adequate 
for every practical purpose; but, when it is ordered to be given 
in drops, the deposition of the sesquioxide of Iron in the bot- 
tle has often created a disgust to the medicine in the minds of 
some patients, and has led to an idea that the preparation was 
spoiled, and had consequently lost its efficacy, or that it had 
been improperly prepared. Besides, the keeping it in this 
manner renders it necessary to filter the solution before it 
is sent from the shop 'of the chemist ; and also to introduce 
into the phial a coil of Iron, which often leads to ludicrous 
observations on the part of patients,, A lady, to whom I had 
ordered a bottle of the solution to be sent, and who lived in 
the country, wrote to me, desiring to know "whether the 
Iron screw, which the bottle contained, was to be swallowed 
entire after the solution was finished, or whether it was to be 
taken, in divided portions, with each dose of the solution ?" 
This query, although a playful manner of inquiring into the 
use of the coil of Iron, yet displays the impression which it 
is likely to make on the minds of patients. 
For these, and other reasons, as well as to obtain a definite 
preparation of the Iodide of Iron, not susceptible of decompo- 
sition, I made a variety of experiments with different combi- 
nations, and at length succeeded, by forming it into a strong 
Syrup, which will not only remain undecomposed, when ex- 
posed to the air, for an indefinite length of time, but which 
may be crystallized, and given in the form of powder with 
various substances, which would otherwise decompose the so- 
