to an improvement. The method presented by Mr. Bedford in the American Journal of Pharmacy, xxxvii. 184, forms a more pliable mass than the officinal, and is very convenient for dispensing, but is objectionable, not only on account of the ready tendency to decomposition of the honey used, but it does not furnish so dense a mass and consequently is not so permanent as the officinal pill. After repeated trials I have been led to adopt the following formula which, with ordinary skill and care, will furnish a pill as handsome in appearance as the much esteemed Blancard, and fully equal to the officinal. Great care, however, is necessary in the selection of the reduced iron, as much of it in the market will be found utterly worthless.

Take of Iodine, 80 grains.

Reduced Iron, 40 grains.

Sugar, in fine powder, 100 grains.

Gum Arabic, in fine powder, 20 grains.
Water, 50 minims.

Marshmallow, in fine powder, 80 grs. or q. s.

Rub the Iodine, in a glass mortar slightly warmed, to a fine powder; then add the water and afterwards the reduced iron in small portions. Triturate until the mixture becomes a dark gray color and there ceases to be any indication of free iodine to the usual test.

The sugar and gum arabic are now to be added and the mixture rubbed into a smooth pasty mass. Lastly, add the marshmallow, and when thoroughly incorporated, divide into ninetysix pills.

In forming the pills a small quantity of reduced iron may be used as a dusting powder to prevent them adhering together, and still further protect them from the oxidizing influence of the air. They are now to be only partially dried at a temperature not exceeding 120° F., and when cool coated with balsam tolu. Each pill contains one grain of iodide of iron with an excess of reduced iron, and are prefectly devoid of iodine odor. Pills prepared nearly one year ago, in accordance with the above formula, upon examination show no sign of decomposition. Dresden, Ohio, Feb. 6, 1868.

ON OXALATE OF IRON.

By J. B MOORE.

The publication in the January number of the American Journal of Pharmacy, of the communication of Mr. Simms, accompanied by the letter of Dr. Schaffer, of Washington City, on the Oxalate of Iron, has stimulated a demand for it among the apothecaries of this city. I, like perhaps many others in my profession, have received prescriptions for the article without being able to supply it, and in the absence of any definite formula for its manufacture, devised the following, which I here present for the convenience of those who may have occasion to make it.

Take of Protosulphate of Iron, (pure) 3 xviij. grs. xxxij. Oxalic Acid, 3 viij. grs. xxiv. Water, three and a half pints. Dissolve the sulphate of iron and oxalic acid separately; the acid in one and a half pints of the water, and the sulphate of iron in the remaining two pints. Strain both solutions through muslin, to remove any accidental impurities; then mix them, and, having stirred the mixture, set it by, that the precipitate may subside. Collect the latter upon a filter and wash with water until the washings pass devoid of acid reaction upon litmus paper. Then dry the precipitate at a temperature not exceeding 120°.

To facilitate solution, the acid in the above formula may be powdered, and the sulphate of iron finely bruised and both afterwards weighed, any loss occuring during the process being supplied by fresh additions of either substance.

As the oxalate is slightly soluble in dilute sulphuric acid, a small loss of the precipitate is sustained by a portion being carried off in the supernatant liquid.

Oxalate of iron is a beautiful canary-colored powder, nearly devoid of smell or taste, and decomposed by the alkalies and their carbonates. These substances are therefore incompatible with it in prescriptions.

The oxalate being a pure and permanent proto-salt of iron, and possessing little or no astringency, and not liable to produce constipation nor any functional excitement or derangement, which the use of other chalybeate salts often induces, and being

so easily borne by persons whose idiosyncrasy debars the use of other salts of the metal, will, I have no doubt, render it a very popular and useful remedy with the medical profession.

The usual dose, according to Dr. Schæffer, is from two to three grains.

As it is not soluble to any considerable extent either in water, alcohol, syrup or glycerin, I should think that the best mode of administration would be in the form of pill. As much as five grains can be made into a pill of convenient size, but for those who may have an aversion to medicine in this form, it may be prescribed in powder, accompanied by directions that it be mixed with sugar and water, syrup of orange, molasses, or any other palatable and convenient vehicle.

Dr. Schæffer says, "since the first use of oxalate of iron, it has been ascertained that in cases of excessive irritability, when ordinary preparations of iron could not be tolerated, the oxalate was taken with the greatest benefit." (American Journal of Pharmacy, January, 1868).

After reading the above, I felt desirous of seeing the oxalate of iron tried in some case in which the other chalybeate preparations could not be taken on account of constitutional peculiarity, and knowing a medical friend whose health has been extremely delicate for some time, and whose anæmic condition imperatively demanded the use of iron, and being also aware that he had tried to take almost every preparation of the metal in the Pharmacopoeia, but could not find one that he could tolerate, even in the minutest dose; in fact his constitutional susceptibility being so great that he could not bear two drops of the Tr. Chl. Iron, without experiencing the most intense headache, excited circulation, &c., I therefore called his attention to the oxalate and induced him to try it, which he did, by commencing with one grain doses, continued for several days, when he increased the dose to two grains, and is now taking three grains three times a day, after meals, which has produced strongly marked tonic effects, unattended by the slightest unpleasant symptom. This would seem to corroborate the statement of Dr. Schæffer.

Dr. Schæffer has made two analyses of this salt, and says that it is "without water of crystallization." (American Journal Pharmacy, January, 1868).

Prof. Procter, in a foot note to Dr. Schaffer's letter, quotes Gmelin, Handbook, vol. ix. p. 156, 1855, which says

"Artificial oxalate of protoxide of iron contains 2 eq. of water for each eq. of base; whilst the native oxalate (Humboldtite) is only sesqui-hydric.

And Mr. Reynolds, (American Journal of Pharmacy, March, 1867), who has also analyzed it, gives as its formula, FeO, C2O、 +4HO. According to this it would consist of one-third of its weight of water.

This question of its composition should be definitely settled, as it is of importance to the therapeutist in enabling him more accurately to apportion the dose.

Philadelphia, February, 1868.

SYRUP OF LACTUCARIUM.

BY JAMES KENWORTHEY.

In reading over the proceedings of the American Pharmaceutical Association, I observed one of the queries propounded by that body was, whether the U. S. P. formula for Syrup of Lactucarium could be improved, and if so, how.

Syrup of Lactucarium, as made by the U. S. P. formula, is a milky, unsightly preparation, with a rank, goaty odor, making it objectionable to delicate or sensitive patients, and as Pharmaceutists of to-day have to compete with sugar pellets and powders, it behooves us to make our preparations as agreeable in taste and appearance as possible.

Below I give a formula with which I have been very successful, answering in every particular.

Take of Lactucarium, one troy-ounce.

Sugar in coarse powder, fourteen troy-ounces.

Orange Flower Water, one fluidounce.

Powdered Pumice Stone, two troy-ounces.

Purified Animal Charcoal, one troy ounce.

Diluted Alcohol and water, of each a sufficient quantity. Rub the Lactucarium with sufficient diluted alcohol, gradually added, to bring it to a syrupy consistence. Then introduce it into a conical percolator and, having carefully covered the sur

face with a piece of muslin, gradually pour diluted alcohol upon it until half a pint of tincture has passed. Evaporate this, by means of a water bath, at a temperature not exceeding 160°, to two fluidounces; rub this in a mortar with the powdered pumice stone and two troy-ounces of the sugar, then with four fluidounces of water gradually added and filter, letting the filtrate drop into another funnel with a filter and the purified animal charcoal in it; after this has all passed through the filter, gradually pour on water until the filtered liquid measures eight fluidounces, then add the orange flower water and the remainder of the sugar, dissolving by agitation, and strain through coarse muslin.

By following these directions carefully, the result will be a beautifully clear syrup with the flavor and appearance of Aubergier's French preparation and all the medicinal properties of that made by the process of the Pharmacopoeia. Philadelphia, Feb. 1868.

SYRUP OF LACTUCARIUM.

BY ROBERT F. FAIRTHORNE.

When this is made by the formula of the United States Pharmacopoeia, a turbid syrup, having a disagrecable odor, is produced, neither pleasing to the eye nor palate of the fastidious public. In order, therefore, to overcome these objections, without interfering with its medical properties, I have devised the following formula, by which an agreeable preparation is obtained:

Rub the Lactucarium (after having been thoroughly bruised) with sufficient diluted alcohol to make it of a syrupy consist