HARVARD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MONE AND PUBLIC HEALT LIURARY [10 JUL 1946 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by BAILLIERE BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York, R. CRAIGHEAD, 81, 83, and 85 Centre Street. CONTRIBUTORS TO THE FOURTH VOLUME. 5-25 BAUER, L., M.D., Brooklyn, N. Y. BUCK, Gurdon, M.D., Surgeon to New York BULKLEY, H. D., M.D., Physician to the New BUMSTEAD, Freeman J., M.D., Surgeon New CAMPBELL, J. L., M.D., N. Y. Cal. DESLANDES, P. F. C., M.D., of New York. ELLIOT, George T., M.D., Professor of Obstetrics in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, N. Y. FINNELL, T. C., M.D., of New York. GARDNER, A. K., M.D., of N. Y. GILMAN, C. R., M.D., Professor of Obstetrics and Medical Jurisprudence in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, N. Y GREENE, W. W., M.D., of Maine. GRISCOM, John H., M.D., Physician to the New York Hospital, etc. GUILD, J. H., M.D., of Rupert, Vermont. HAMLIN, A. C., M.D., Surgeon Second Regt. HORR, Asa, M.D., of Dubuque, Iowa. JACOBI, A., M.D., Professor of Infantile Patho logy and Therapeutics in the New York Medical College and Charity Hospital, N. Y. JANES, E. H., M.D., of New York. KNEELAND, Jonathan, M.D., of South Onondaga, KIDD, Charles, M. D., of London. N. Y. KRACKOWIZER, E., M.D., of N. Y. LASSING, H., M.D., of New York. LEE, C. A., M.D., Professor of Materia Medica, LENT, F. D., M.D., of Cold Spring, N. Y. LITTLE, J. L., M.D., House Surgeon to the New LOOMIS, A. J., M.D., Physician to Bellevue Hospital, N. Y. LYMAN, F. R., M.D., House Physician, Bellevue Hospital, N. Y. LYMAN, Henry M., M.D., House-Surgeon to Bellevue Hospital, N. Y. MARSH, M. M., M.D., of Montpellier, Vermont. MARTIN, Joseph, M.D., of New York. NOGGERATH, E., M.D., of New York. NOYES, H. D., M.D., Assistant Surgeon New York Eye Infirmary. O'MEAGHER, Wm., M.D., of New York. ples and Practice of Surgery in the College and Therapeutics in the New York Medical POST, Alfred C., M.D., Professor of Surgery in ROOSA, D. B. St John, M.D., House Surgeon to SMITH, David P., M.D., of Springfield, Mass. SMITH, J. Lewis, M.D., Curator to the Nursery in the Long Island College Hospital. and Child's Hospital, N. Y. SEGUR, B. A., M.D., House Surgeon, Bellevue SUCKLEY, G. S., M.D., Medical Inspector U. S. A. SWAN, C. Y., M. D., of New York. TAYLOR, I. E., M.D., Professor of Obstetrics in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, N. Y. THOMPSON, J. H., M.D., of New York. VEDDER, J. H., M.D., of Flushing, Long Island. WALLACE, S. C., M.D., Assistant Surgeon Ninety- WILLSON, GEO. B., M.D., of Port Huron, Mich. SIMS, J. Marion, M.D., Surgeon to the Woman's WISWELL, S. L., M.D., of Cabot, Vermont. REPORTS FROM THE FOLLOWING HOSPITALS, INSTITUTIONS, AND SOCIETIES, HAVE CONNECTICUT RIVER MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. MILL CREEK HOSPITAL, FORTRESS MONROE, VA. MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE STATE OF N. Y. NEW YORK STATE VOLUNTEER HOSPITAL. NEW YORK PATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. NURSERY AND CHILD'S HOSPITAL, NEW YORK. SURGICAL SECTION NEW YORK ACADEMY OF U. S. GENERAL HOSPITAL, WASHINGTON, D. C. Original Lectures. LECTURES ON NEW REMEDIES AND THEIR THERAPEU TICAL APPLICATIONS. DELIVERED AT THE NEW YORK MEDICAL COLLEGE AND CHARITY HOSPITAL. BY SAMUEL R. PERCY, M.D., PROFESSOR OF MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS. LECTURE I. IODIDE OF IRON. GENTLEMEN:-It is not known how long iron has been used in medicine, but the Greeks, who had the vanity to claim every good invention or application as their own, seem to have discovered the use of iron in medicine; but they must first procure for it the sanction of some deity; in this instance the deity personated a vulture-a fit emblem of the ravenous propensities of their priest-doctors. It is said that a shepherd, who professed to be possessed of supernatural powers (a kind of ancient clairvoyant), was appealed to by a young prince for a remedy to relieve him of impotence. This young prince, Iphicles, the son of Philacus, was unable to perform his marital duties. In this state of things the sages were right in inducing him to pay a solitary visit to his uncle. While from home, enjoying the bracing air of the hills, and practising forced abstinence, he met the shepherd Melampus, who for his benefit slaughtered two bulls. The intestines of these two bulls were cut in pieces so as to entice the birds to an augury. Among those which came to the feast of these delicate and savory morsels, was a vulture, which in payment for the feast informed Melampus that the young prince Iphicles had, when a boy, stuck a knife, wet with the blood of some rams, into a consecrated chestnut tree. The bark of the tree had subsequently grown over the knife and inclosed it. The vulture disclosed the place where it was hidden, and directed that the rust should be scraped off, and put into wine; this was to be drunk for ten days (of course under the usual close sacerdotal watchings), in which time he would recover from his impotence, and be capable of begetting children. The advice thus given to young Iphicles was followed with perfect success. Let us turn to the special consideration of the iodide of iron. Dr. A. T. Thomson of London first brought this substance before the profession in a pamphlet written in 1834, entitled "Observations on the Preparation and Medicinal Employment of the Ioduret and Hydriodate of Iron." But it was used previously by Dr. Parquin in 1824, and by Prof. S. Jackson in 1832. There are various officinal formulæ for the preparation of this substance, all of which aim to its preparation with the least possible exposure to the air. In preference to any of them, I will give you the one I have been in the habit of using since the autumn of 1838, as it differs a little in the manipulations from those usually employed. This substance is always best when freshly prepared, and it is well, therefore, to make but a small quantity at any one time. Introduce into a Florence flask 3 iv. of distilled water, and 3 vj. of clean iron turnings, and add gradually iodine in quantity of about 3j. at a time, until 3 ij. of iodine have been introduced. A new portion of iodine should not be added until the previous one has entered into combination, for if too much iodine is added, the action is too energetic, great heat is evolved, and vapor of iodine is given off in abundance. After all of the iodine is added, the solution remains for a time of a dark brown color, but by agitation changes to a deep green. It should then be boiled for some minutes, and filtered, while hot, into a clean Florence flask. It is desirable to filter quickly, and partly for this object, and partly to avoid decomposition, I have always used four small iron rods between the funnel and Am. Med. Times, Vol. IV., No. 1. the filtering paper. These rods are suspended in the funnel by being bent at the upper end, and thus are supported by the edge of the funnel. Care is required in pouring the hot solution into the paper filter, lest it be broken. It should be conducted by means of an iron rod upon the upper portion of the filter. After it is all filtered into the clean flask, a rod of iron wire is suspended, by being bent at the extremity, from the top of the flask, but it should be too short to touch the bottom. The solution is now allowed to boil slowly until it begins to assume a dark appearance, when it requires to be constantly agitated. With the wire small portions of it can be frequently tried, on a cold piece of glass, or porcelain, and when it is found to crystallize properly the whole may be poured out upon a clean iron or porcelain slab. As soon as it is cold it should be broken up, and put into closely stoppered bottles. It is in greenishblack tabular crystals, which are very deliquescent in the air, and soon decompose into sesquioxide of iron and free iodine. By this formula I have prepared large quantities, and with uniform success. The evaporation is not conducted so quickly in a Florence flask as it would be in an iron or porcelain dish, but it is not acted on so much by the air, and this more than compensates for the time lost. Unless I wish to obtain it in thin flat cakes, so as to be easily broken and put in small bottles, I generally allow the evaporation to be perfectly completed, and then permit the salt to cool and crystallize in the flask. The flask is then broken, and the mass put away in large-mouthed stoppered bottles. Where you wish to have a mass of uniform size and appearance, to put in small bottles, and to look well, you had better pour the salt out upon the slab; but if you wish it for use only, and are regardless of uniformity of size and appearance, it is better to allow the cooling and crystallization to take place in the flask. Even by the best processes, it is difficult to obtain this salt perfectly pure, as it so readily unites with oxygen, and by this means becomes contaminated with the sesquioxide of iron. Some endeavor to prevent the change by evaporating the solution in iron dishes, and in a hot air press. Iodide of iron is a greenish black crystalline substance, of an unpleasant, styptic, and pungent chalybeate taste. It is exceedingly deliquescent, and soon decomposes upon exposure to the air. If exposed to a high temperature, violet-colored fumes of iodine are given off, and sesquioxide of iron is left behind. When recently prepared, it is wholly soluble in both water and alcohol, and the solution at first is of a pale green color, but it soon becomes turbid, growing more so every hour, and a brownish deposit of iron gradually increases in quantity. If the solution is strong, it becomes an orange red, owing to the presence of free iodine. As the iron separates it is at first a protoxide, but it rapidly becomes a sesquioxide from the absorption of oxygen; hydriodic acid is set free, and the solution is found to be acid, but by the action of air and light this soon changes into iodine. When the iodide of iron was used in solution various plans were adopted to prevent the rapid decomposition, the most frequent of which was the suspension in various ways and forms of iron in the solution; but these were not sufficient to prevent the change. It was very difficult to form it into pills, for the least moisture made them so deliquescent that they became moist, friable, and either softened down into a wet mass, or broke up into small pieces. Besides, when freshly made and administered at once, they were apt to cause derangement and irritability of the stomach. If administered in the fluid form it had to be made fresh very frequently, and its taste was harsh, styptic, and unpleasant, and it was difficult to administer it to children. Independent also of its easy decomposition by the air, it was most rapidly decomposed by any substance that was incompatible with sulphate of iron; it was also incompatible with the alkalies and their carbonates, and other substances with which physicians wished sometimes to associate it. |
