On the action of the hydrated sesquioxide of iron on arsenic / [Sir Douglas Maclagan].

  • Maclagan, Douglas, Sir, 1812-1900.
Date:
[1840]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the action of the hydrated sesquioxide of iron on arsenic / [Sir Douglas Maclagan]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ZL±~) / tf- / P ON THE ACTION OF THE • r hydrated sesquioxide of iron on ARSENIC. By Douglas Maclagan, M. D.F.R.C.S.E. Lecturer on Materia Medica, &c. [Read before the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, 10th March 1840.] (From the Edin. Med. and Surgical Journal, No. 144. J The hydrated sesquioxide of iron was first proposed as an anti¬ dote for arsenic by Drs Bunsen and Berthold of Gottingen, who published a pamphlet on the subject in Germany. The import¬ ance of the question led many experimenters, especially on the con¬ tinent, to put its powers fairly to the test, and there seems little reason to doubt that when administered in sufficient quantity, it either arrests or totally prevents the action of the poison on ani¬ mals. The following experiments were instituted with a view to throw some light on the modus operandi of the antidote, by inves¬ tigating the chemical action of the hydrated oxide on arsenic. I considered it unnecessary to sacrifice any more animals to experi¬ ments with arsenic, as the numerous trials of this kind that have been already made, and which have been collected by Dr Donald Mackenzie in his probationary essay on the Antidotes to Arsenic, appear to me to be quite satisfactory. In this country the efficacy of the oxide of iron as an antidote, and its power of combining with arsenic have been called in question by Messrs Brett* and Orton.f But with respect to the former, it may be observed, that he appears uniformly to have used too small quantities of the * Medical Gazette, 1834-85, p. 220. f Lancet, 1834-35. p. 232.