Tartaric acid, 61⁄2 oz.; water, 7 pints; dissolve, neutralise the selection with sesquicarbonate of ammonium, and add 61⁄4 oz. more tartaric acid; to the solution heated in a water bath, further add moist hydrated oxide of iron (obtained from sesquioxide of iron, 531⁄2 dr., dissolved in hydrochloric acid, and precipitated by ammonia); when dissolved, filter, and evaporate, &c., as before.
Prop., &c. Glossy, brittle lamellæ, or irregular pieces, of a deep garnet colour, almost black, very soluble in water, and possessing a sweetish and slightly ferruginous taste. By repeated re-solution and evaporation its sweetness is increased, probably from the conversion of a part of its acid into sugar. It contains more iron than a given weight of the sulphate of the same base. It is the most pleasant-tasted of all the preparations of iron except the ammonio-citrate, last noticed.—Dose, 3 to 10 gr.
Ferric and Potassium Tartrate. Syn. Tartrate of potassa and iron, Ferro-tartrate of potassa; Ferric tartrate of p.; Ferri tartaratum (B. P.), Ferri potassio-tartras (Ph. L.), Ferrum tartarizatum (Ph. E.), Ferri tartarum (Ph. D.), Ferri et potassæ tartras (Ph. U. S.), L. Prep. (B. P.) Prepare ferric hydrate from 4 fl. oz. of liq. ferri persulphas, B. P., as in making the double citrate, and add it to 2 oz. of the acid tartrate of potassium, dissolved in 30 oz. of water. Digest for 6 hours at 140°, allow to cool, and decant off the clear solution, which is to be evaporated down and dried on glass plates.—(Ph. L.) Ferrous sulphate, 4 oz., is dissolved in water, 1 pint, previously mixed with sulphuric acid, 1⁄2 fl. oz.; heat is applied to the solution, and nitric acid, 1 fl. oz., gradually added; the solution is boiled to the consistence of a syrup, and then diluted with water, 4 galls. (less the pint already used); liquor of ammonia, 10 fl. oz., is next added, and the precipitate washed, and set aside for 24 hours; at the end of this time, the water being decanted, the still moist precipitate is added, gradually, to a mixture of bitartrate of potassium, 2 oz., and water, 1⁄2 pint, heated to 140° Fahr.; after
a time the undissolved oxide is separated by a linen cloth, and the clear solution either gently evaporated to dryness or treated in the same manner as the citrate (lastly, preserve it in well-stoppered bottles). The formulæ of the Ph. E., D., & U. S., are essentially the same. The Ph. D. orders a heat not beyond 150° Fahr. to be applied to the mixture of the oxide and bitartrate, with occasional stirring for 6 hours, and the desiccation to be conducted at the same temperature.
Obs. This preparation is a double salt of potassium and iron; it is therefore wrongly called ‘tartrate of iron’ as is commonly heard. It is totally soluble in water; the solution is neutral to litmus and turmeric, unaffected by ferrocyanide of potassium, and not precipitated by acids nor alkalies, nor acted on by the magnet. Heated with potassa, 100 gr. throws down about 34 gr. of sesquioxide of iron. Entirely soluble in cold water; taste freely chalybeate. That of commerce has generally a feebly inky taste a slight alkaline reaction, is slightly deliquescent, dissolves in 4 parts of water, and is nearly insoluble in alcohol.
Potassio-tartrate of iron is an excellent ferruginous tonic.—Dose, 10 to 20 gr., made into a bolus with aromatics, or dissolved in water or other convenient menstruum.
Ferric Valerianate. Syn. Valerianate of sesquioxide of iron, Valeriate of iron; Ferri valerianas (Ph. D.), L. Prep. (Ph. D.) By adding a solution of sodium valerianate to another of ferric sulphate, and collecting and washing the precipitate, which is to be dried by placing it for some days folded in bibulous paper, on a porous brick; after which it is to be carefully kept from the air.
Prop., &c. A reddish-brown amorphous powder; nearly insoluble in water; soluble in rectified spirit, and in the dilute acids with decomposition. Citrate or tartrate, flavoured with oil of valerian, is frequently sold for it.—Dose, 1 to 3 gr.; in anæmia and chlorosis complicated with hysteria.
Ferroso-Ferric Hydrate. Fe3(HO)6. Syn. Hydrated ferroso-ferric oxide, Hydrated magnetic oxide. (B. P.) Liquor ferri persulphas, 51⁄2; ferri sulphas, 2; solution of soda, 80; distilled water, a sufficiency. Dissolve the ferrous sulphate in 40 of water, add the solution of soda, stirring them well, boil the mixture, let it stand for two hours, put in a calico filter, wash with distilled water until the washing gives no precipitate with barium chloride, and dry at a temperature not exceeding 120.
Ferrous sulphate, 6 oz.; sulphuric acid, 160 minims; nitric acid, 4 fl. dr.; stronger solution of ammonia, 41⁄2 fl. oz.; boiling water, 3 pints; dissolve half of the sulphate in half of the water, add the oil of vitriol, boil, add the nitric acid gradually, boiling after each addition for a few minutes; dissolve the remaining half of the sulphate in the rest of