BLANCARD’S IODIDE OF IRON; 
ITS PLACE IN MODERN THERAPEUTICS; 
DEDICATIONS POE ITS EMPLOYMENT. 
The iodide of iron is one of those rare medicaments concern- 
ing whose curative powers all physicians are in full agreement; 
it has withstood the test of time. In the cases in which it is 
indicated, its action is direct and decided ; and, since the year 
1850, when M. Blancard gave it purity, stability and easily as- 
similated properties, it has taken the highest rank as the most 
reliable and effective of pharmaceutical preparations. 
Known and approved throughout the world of medicine, it is 
regarded as one of the few reliable arms of precision always at 
the disposition of the physician. Nothing has approached it in 
usefulness as a remedy for the largest class of ailments known 
to the race—those which are consequent upon Diathetic and 2 
hereditary, or constitutional troubles ; and those which 
occur as sequelae to acute maladies, or present themselves in 
the debilitated conditions of convalescence. 
Recent modern discoveries, while they have not added to 
effect of the iodide of iron as a medicine, have possibly explained 
the felicitous nature of its action in certain cases. Perhaps 
also they have suggested its wider use on etiological grounds. 
As to its cause of action, certain therapeutists say it is by 
reason of the iron it contains ; others insist that it is on ac- 
count of its iodine ; and still others claim that the combination 
heightens the action of each of the constituent parts, while the 
entire preparation has also a clearly defined action peculiar to 
itself. The last theory is probably correct, since we know that 
the ingestion, separately, of the components does not give the 
specific effects of the combined medicament. 
Whatever theory of disease we may adopt, however, or what- 
ever explanations of the action of medicines may be advanced, 
the fact remains that the iodide of iron is a curative remedy. 
It has been such for many years. And it Avas curing disease 
while the researches for the “ why,” were going on. It will 
continue to cure while the discoverers in medicine continue to 
discover and the searchers for alkaloids continue their phar- 
macological researches. 
If, as liroussais said, tho best physician is the one who cures, 
so also the best medicine is the one which cures. Such a 
medicine is the iodide of iron ; it is a remedy for the use of 
the practical physician—the only true doctor, the general prac- 
titioner of medicine. 
Of the general therapeutic methods used in medicine, none 
holds a higher position than that known as “ alterative treat- 
ment.” All antidotes, according to many authorities, are alter- 
atives. Concerning this view of the matter, Dr. Ilartshorne 
says, (Pract. Med. pg. 122), “Agents which tend with con- 
stancy to increase the rate of metamorphosis of tissue in the 
body are few. * * * Iodide of iron may afford an example 
of this medication in its simplest form ; its object is to favor 
the rapid removal of the old tissue, and the formation of 
good new structure in its place.” 
The iodide of iron in fact promotes absorption, and is a re- 
constituent as well as a purifier of tiie blood. This is why 
the remedy has often had a remarkable effect where others 
have failed. It is worth bearing in mind that in a majority of 
the cases where iron is indicated, the preparation of the iodide 
will best meet the desired end. 3 
INDICATIONS 
FOR THE EMPLOYMENT OF BLANCARD’S IODIDE OF IRON PILLS, 
The indications for the use of the iodide of iron are very- 
many from the fact, already stated, of its great value in all of 
the cachexi®, those morbid, degenerative conditions which are 
the sad consequences of nearly all acute maladies, and which 
we meet with on every hand. Indeed, the highest claim which 
can be made for any medicine is that which is justly due to 
the iodide of iron, for it is a recuperative, reconstituting and 
sustaining medicament in these cachetic conditions following 
most of the acute, and resting in all of the chronic forms of 
disease. V 
These facts are well known to the medical profession. They 
have been known for many years. But the indications for the 
use of Blancard’s preparations have naturally increased with 
time, not only from the fact that the development of civiliza- 
tion has brought, if not new diseases, new forms of disease, 
but because such discoveries in modern medicine as have 
shown a unity or connection between certain diseases, have 
suggested the still wider uses of the medicament. 
It is from these considerations that it seems proper, while 
briefly recalling some of the more obvious and important of 
the well known indications for the use of Blancard’s prepara- 
tion, to state some of the more recent suggestions for its use, 
as recorded in the later works of recognized authorities. 
These references must necessarily be but physicians will 
appreciate the fact that instead of making general statements 
concerning the value of the remedy it has been thought pro- 
per and desirable in this paper to quote the exact language 
and give the precise source of the statements presented. In 
short, the chemist and manufacturer who gave, many years 
ago, this medicament to the medical profession, and who now 
feels that in reality it needs no statement from him as to its 
value as a pharmaceutical preparation, prefers to let accredited 
physicians say what is to be said, in thus briefly presenting 
the former endorsements of the preparation as such, side by 
side with the confirmatory and the new testimony", added and 
verified by clinical experiences. 
In the most prevalent of the cachexise, anaemia, the testi- 
mony to the value of Blancard’s iodide of ir\pn pills is over- 
whelming, though little more than the briefest of references 4 
can here be made to it. “ In nearly all of the forms of 
anaemia,” says Still6, (Natl. Pisp., pg. 701, 1887), “iron is 
food.” It supplies an express, substantial want of the econo- 
my, and its combination with iodine saves it from its sometimes 
inert action. The solubility and ease of absorption of the 
Blancard preparation place it in such form that the system 
cannot avoid receiving it. This is one reason why it will act 
in anaemia even when, according to the same authority, 
chlorosis is not present ; it being well known that the chlorotic 
diathesis hastens the action of iron, in anaemia from mixed 
causes. As to the choice of the iron preparations for use in 
anaemia, Ilartshorne says, (Prac. Med., pg. 383) “I have found 
that of the preparations of iron, numerous as they are, the 
most satisfactory results were from the iodide.” Professor 
Loomis says, (Prac. Med. pg. 885, 1885), “Iron is the one 
drug that best combats anaemia.” Also Dr. J. Mitchell Bruce 
(Quain’s Piet. Med. pg. 40, 1887) states that “Iron is the 
sovereign remedy for aglobulism ; * * * the French dragies 
ferrugineuses (Blancard’s pills) may bo given.” Also Dr. 
Bastian (loq. cit. pg. 1473) uses this preparation in paraplegia 
with local caries, where the patient is anaemic. Indeed, this 
remedy, in England, as in America, where it has for many 
years been in the pharmacopoeia (“ Pil. Ferri Iodidi, syn. 
P. de Blancard?''), is the prime favorite with physicians for 
anaemic cases. It should be 6aid in connection with this fact, 
that while the universal esteem in which Mr. Blancard’s 
preparation was held led to its early adoption into the phar- 
macopoeias, it is open to doubt as to whether it should be 
prescribed as a purely pharmacopoeial preparation. The 
official work adopts the formula, but it cannot possibly lead the 
druggist to adopt, in its entirety, the method of its proper 
manufacture. No druggist can make these pills with all of 
the care and precautions which are necessary to their activity, 
their perfect solubility and their stable properties. From a 
merely commercial point of view it could not pay him to in- 
stitute the tests and standards exacted by Mr. Blancard in his 
own laboratory. And it must furthermore be stated that the 
negative results which have sometimes been given with the 
iodide of iron have arisen, in all of the many cases investigated, 
from the imperfections of manufacture at which we have hinted. 
These observations are not intended to reflect upon pharma- 
cists, who, in general, are a hard-working and conscientious 
body of men ; but the pharmacists themselves say that medi- 
caments requiring extended and delicate manipulations should 5 
be sold as preparations for whose integrity the chemist-manu- 
facturer should be held responsible. 
In Chlorosis the value of the iodide of iron can hardly 
be overstated. The condition being one of aglobulism, its 
indications are those of anaemia. Treatment is easier and 
cure far more rapid than in the latter disease, though watching 
is necessary; for as justly stated by Dr. Bruce ( Quain's Diet., 
Med. pg. 238, 1887), “ disorders of the sexual functions are the 
most frequent exciting causes of aglobulism.” 
In Scrofulosis the power of Mr. Blancard’s preparation 
shows itself with great distinctness. Concerning the value of 
the iodide of iron in these cases there is a remarkable con- 
census pf medical opinion. “The majority of experienced 
physicians,” says Professor Austin Flint, Principles and Prac- 
tice, pg. 311), “hold that the chalybeates are useful here, and 
this is in accordance with my own observations; * * * 
preparations with iodine are undoubtedly useful in cases of 
scrofulosis.” In scrofulous or tuberculous inflammation of the 
lymphatic glands, the effect of the remedy is very distinctly 
marked. “ It is not desirable,” says Dr. F. T. Roberts (Quain, 
pg. 909, 1887), “ to allow chronic adenitis to continue, as seri- 
ous consequences may ensue; it should be subjected to proper 
treatment without delay; preparations of iron are very service- 
able especially the iodide.” Also, (loq. cit. pg. 910), “ General 
treatment is of essential consequence in the treatment of 
scrofulous disease of glands; preparations of iron, especially 
the are indicated.” See also, Dr. Hartshorne, (.Ess. 
Pract. Med. pg. 380). Again, in scrofulous caries of the ver- 
tebrae associated with paraplegia, a disease which is said to 
be more common than formerly, Dr. Bastain (Quain, pg. 1473), 
recommends the iodide of iron in conjunction with cod liver 
oil; (see also, Hartshorne, pg. 382). In Rachitis or Rickets 
we have too, a form of this cachexia in which the iodide of 
iron is regarded as a remedy of the highest importance. 
Malarial Cachexia, or chronic malarial infection, may 
exist as a sequela of any form of acute malarial disease, and 
in such a condition the iodide of iron works marvellous cures. 
It is also of service where, in such conditions, there are salient 
points of morbid change. Thus Dr. Loomis says, {Pract. Med., 
pg. 855). “ In those cases of malaria in which the spleen and 
liver are very much enlarged, when no febrile excitement is 
present, iodide of iron, combined with cod-liver oil, will be found 
of great > service.” The italics are Prof. Loomis’s. In the 
treatment of malarial cachexia, no matter what form (owing to diathetic or other causes) it may assume, too much reliance must 
not be placed on cinchona. This drug is frequently called a spe- 
cific, and it certainly acts beneficially as far as its curative effect 
extends. But it is in the sequelae of malaria, the morbid con- 
ditions which remain after the acute malady has subsided, that 
the offices of the physician become of the most telling con- 
sequence; and it is here that the iodide of iron is indispensable 
to the completion of the cure. “ Chronic Intermittent” says 
Ilartshorne {Ess. Pract. Med. pg. 315), relapses in sp*ite of 
cinchona, and here the great remedy is iron; it has never dis- 
appointed me.” But it is not necessary to multiply examples; 
Blancard’s Iodide of Iron has, for many years, done more 
effective and permanent work in this direction than any other 
medical preparation; and it is a pleasure to the manufacturing 
house to have it thus widely and emphatically recognized by 
the great body of physicians. 
In syphilitic cachexia hereditary or acquired; and in 
syphilis in all stages occuring primarily in similarly diathetic 
soil, the use of the iodide is of the highest importance. It acts 
here as a promoter of nutrition and a “ reconstituent,’ while 
at the same time it neutralizes all toxic influences and arrests 
the progress of those morbid degenerations which so often 
become transformed into destructive and incurable lesions. 
This triple action of the iodide of iron, in which it shows the 
power of iodine and of iron as well as that of the iodide of 
iron itself—which, in such cases, no doubt acts partly if not 
wholly by catalysis—is one of the most remarkable points 
about this medicament; and it is doubtless through a recog- 
nition of this action tjiat such writers as Dr. Arthur Cooper 
(Quoin's Piet. Med. pg. 1583, 1887), specially recommend 
the iodide as a general remedy in syphilis. In inherited syph- 
ilis, in children or adults, the iodide of iron is also one of 
the most important of remedies {loq. cit. pg. 1584); and all 
children of syphilitic parentage, or either of whose parents 
has had syphilis, should be subjected to treatment by the ferric 
iodide; and this should be done whether or not the signs of 
syphilis have been perceived in them; for while the import- 
ance of the medicament is fully demonstrated after the lesion, 
it is also of the highest value as a prophylactic in the syphilitic 
diathesis. Many observations have been reported of the 
giving of Blancard’s iodide of iron for prolonged periods in 
the cachexia following secondary syphilis in strumous patients 
who could not bear the proto-iodide of mercury; and in these 
the advent of tertiary syphilis was prevented. In other 7 
words the ferric iodide of Blancard acts in these cases as it 
does in malarial cachexia; it completes the cure. 
In Phthisis, as in all wasting diseases the iodide of iron 
has a high value on account of its tonic, alterative and recon- 
stituent properties. Yet the usefulness in phthisis of some 
of the preparations of iron has been questioned. It is con- 
ceiveable indeed, that the giving of large quantities of crude 
combinations of iron might tend to induce a sthenic condition, 
thus creating an undue excitement of organic action which 
would menace advanced lesions; and the same observation 
would apply to the giving of an excess of alcohol. But the 
ferric iodide of Blancard has no such operation. It induces, 
not a condition of sthenia, but a positive systemic strength 
gained by the arrestation of morbid processes and by aiding 
the assimilative powers of nature. It does not, in fact, act as an 
excitant, but as a reconstituent, commencing with the blood. 
It therefore tends to heal lesions while it strengthens .their 
resisting power. Those who do not use Blancard’s iodide of 
iron in phthisis because crude preparations of iron may tend 
to excitation, will use the iodide when they perceive the effect 
to be gained from it. 
Iodide of Iron is to all strumous affections, from tuberculosis 
down the list, the particular medicament which modern thera- 
peutics cannot afford to lose. The weight of authority is 
with it, as is also the experience of years of practical test. It 
is nearly half a century since Dupasquier, who made many 
experiments in the Lyons hospitals with the ferrous iodide, 
wrote as follows, ( GazetteMedicale, pg. 829, 1842), concerning 
Lis success with it in phthisis pulmonalis : “ This new medi- 
cament, which I have introduced into my prescriptions, 
exercises a powerful influence on the pulmonary organs; it 
generally produces a prompt and notable amelioration in the 
symptoms of phthisis, and this we could not expect from any 
of the usual remedies employed against this malady.” 
Concerning Tuberculosis he wrote, in the same journal: 
“After taking the pills for a few days a prompt amelioration 
will be observed, accompanied by a great decrease in the 
expectoration, relief to the cough and oppression, the modifi- 
cation and finally the suppression of perspiration, falling of 
the pulse, reduction of heat and fever, restored strength and 
appetite, &c. Sometimes these phenomena occur simul- 
taneously, in other instances they succeed one another.” 
In nephritic affections, so-called, such as Bright’s Disease 
of the Kidneys and Diabetes Mellitus, which in their 8 
chronic conditions, aro properly classed with the cachexioe, the 
iodide of iron has the highest value. Professor Loomis says 
(Pract. Med., pg. 568, 1885), “Iron and cod-liver oil are the 
two great remedies in this disease;” and Dr. Loomis says 
further, in speaking of the anyloid form of Bright’s (loq. cit. 
pg. 579), “ The form of iodine which I have found most serv- 
iceable to this class of patients is the pil. ferri iodidi; one 
three times a day with food.” So also Dr. Ilartshorne, (Mss. 
Pract. Med., pg. 230), points out the fact that in these cases 
the iodide of iron agrees better with the patient than do other 
iron preparations, and further (loq. cit. pg. 122), “In Bright’s 
disease I know of no treatment so advantageous as that which 
unites alterativks (that is, liquefacients of tissue) with those 
restorers of blood par excellence, iron and animal food; iodide 
of iron with cod-liver oil may afford an example of this sort 
of medication.” The italics are Dr. Ilartshorne’s. This is very 
high testimony, and with the additional clinical experience of 
practitioners, should go far to place the iodide of iron for 
chronic Bright’s disease on a sure foundation in the United 
States, where this malady is increasing so largely. 
In Diabetes Mellitus the testimony is also conclusive as 
to the value of this kind of medication, (see Flint, Pract. of 
Med. 848), and its use is recommended in other degeuera 
tive disorders. See particularly (loq. cit. pg. 566), where 
Professor Flint verifies the opinions of Frehrichs and others as 
to the value of iodide of iron in amyloid or scrofulous en- 
largement of the liver. 
Of Rheumatoid Arthritis, so commonly found in all parts 
of the United States, Professor Flint says (Principles of Med. 
pg. 1049-50), “It occurs in persons of all ages and in all classes 
of society. Feeble persons are most likely to be attacked, but 
it is observed in those having previous good health and vigor. 
It is prone to affect the children of consumptives; it attacks 
the offspring of gouty or rheumatic persons whose health is 
impaired and whose nervous energy is exhausted by the 
anxieties of business; it fixes upon the girl just arriving at 
puberty in whom the uterine functions are all performed; it 
invades the stiffening articulations of women at the menopause; 
it shows itself during the debility which follows miscarriage, 
protracted labor or flooding; it is a frequent attendant upon 
venereal disease, upon thecachexiaj of syphilis and gonorrhoea; 
and it is a common sequela of over-long suckling, of excess- 
ive venery, of severe and long continued mental exercise, 
and of mental distress and bodily exhaustion. * * * the 9 
first and great object of treatment is the improvement of 
the general health ; tonic remedies long continued, nutri- 
tious diet and iodine in the form of the iodide of iron are 
usefid here, and are especially indicated if, as usual, anaemia be 
present.” 
It will be observed that in all cases of wasting, degen- 
eration and morbid change, the use of the iodide of iron is 
distinctly advised. Even in furunculus, “ however obstinately 
the crops may appear after a period of exhaustion”, this 
medicament, according to Ziemssen, acts almost magically ; 
so too in various obstinate skin diseases, where, for instance 
papulje appear, which are dependent upon constitutional 
alterations, (see Hartshorne, pg. 394) ; or in lupus (loq. cit. 
406). 
In the treatment of syphilitic eruptions also, the real 
object is to impress the diathesis, and here the iodide of iron 
(loq. cit. pg. 413) is most useful as an alterative after the use 
of purely syphilitic remedies. In a considerable portion of 
cases, the iodide of iron alone will do the work, which is of 
course much better for the patient. 
Diseases op the nervous system are most advantageously 
treated with Blancard’s ferric iodide, for say Still6 and Maisch 
{Natl. Disp. pg. 700, 1887), “In nervous diseases the con- 
dition of the blood is impaired and the restoration of this fluid 
to its normal state is an essential element of the cure.” In 
chorea Dr. Broadbent (Quain's Diet. Med. pg. 248, 1887), 
uses the combined remedies, iron and iodine ; and in similar 
cases, Hartshorne {Drac. Med. pg. 273), refers to the import- 
ance of the iodide of iron in chronic affections. In hysteria 
also, he finds it (loq. cit. 277),. of great value in conjunction 
with cod-liver oil. For the “ neuralgic state” the iodide of 
iron is the most effective of medicaments, and Dr. Hartshorne 
states that “ the cases of neuralgia which will not be benefitted 
by it are decidedly exceptional.” 
Asthma, whooping cough, retention and incontinence 
of urine and seminal emissions are also amenable, to cure by 
the iodide of iron “ when their presence is dependent upon an 
exhausted condition of the system.” (See Still6 and Maisch, 
Nat. Disp. pg. 701, 1887). 
In all of the disorders of menstruation the iodide of iron 
has proved of the highest value ; in this, all of the authorities 
agree. “Scanty as well as excessive menstruation,” saysStill6, 
“ is appropriately treated by iron, for either may be due to a 
deficiency of normal blood.” This is so excellent a state- 10 
ment of the truth in the matter that nothing further remains 
to be said. 
Many other diseases due to impoverishment of the blood 
whatever the causes, as also some of the zymoses, are best 
treated by iodide of iron. Thus for many years our older 
practitioners have used it in herpes, chlorosis, scrofula, 
leucorrhoea, lupia, and hydrarthrus, until non-medical 
people have learned to believe that Blancard’s Unalterable 
Iodide of Iron Utils are a specific in what they call “ringworm,” 
“green sickness” king’s evil” “whites” “wens” and 
“white swellings.” In several of the diseases of the respir- 
atory organs the iodide of iron has been proved, over and 
over again, to have an exceptional value. The uses of iron in 
combination is considered important in bronchitis, (see 
Hartsliorne’s Ess. Pract. Med. pg. 150) and Dr. Quain uses 
in that malady, the preparations of iodine and iron. The 
importance of the iodide of iron in diseases of the bronchial 
glands, is very distinctly stated by Dr. Quain (Diet. of Med. 
pg. 194, 1887}. “In cases of morbid gland-enlargement 
treatment has proved very effective. * * * Many such 
cases have yielded to the use of iodide of iron in the form of 
pills or syrup.” Of the uses of this medicament in pleurisy 
—after the acute symptoms have subsided—Professor Loomis 
says {Pract. Med. pg. 150, 1885), “If the patient presents the 
signs of anaemia, the syrup of the iodide of iron should be given 
in teaspoonful doses three or four times each day.” And con- 
cerning the treatment of sub-acute pleurisy, Dr. Loomis 
makes this very important statement, {loq. cit. pg. 157) • “The 
REMEDIAL AGENT WHICH SEEMS TO ME TO HAVE THE GREATEST 
POWER IN PROMOTING THE ABSORPTION OF AN EFFUSION IS THE 
IODIDE OF IRON.” 
In many diseases of the pharynx the iodide of iron has 
proved invaluable. In chronic tonsillitis for instance, 
Dr. Loomis uses (in conjunction with local applications), the 
preparations of iodine and iron for internal adminis- 
tration {Pract. Med. pg. 221, 1885.) 
In dyspepsia the iodide of iron often gives excellent results, 
particularly when that affection—so often a result of anxious 
and hurried business habits—is associated with amemia. 
“Respecting the use of iron in dyspepsia,” says Dr. Still6 
{Natl. JDisp. pg. 701, 1887,) “the medicine acts chiefly by im- 
proving the blood, and thereby increasing the secretion of the 
gastric juice and the muscular power of the stomach.” Dr. 
Hartshorne also states that in dyspepsia {Ess. Pract. Med, 11 
192), “Iodideof iron, in anaemia cases, may be given.” There 
seems also a consensus of medical opinion as to the value of 
iodide of iron in dyspepsia where faulty nutrition arises from 
defective metabolism. In other troubles of the alimentary 
and secretory systems, this medicament is often useful. Thus, 
according to Dr. Loomis, (Pract. Med. pg. 298, 1885), “Iodide 
of iron will be found especially valuable in amyloid changes 
in the intestines;” the same treatment (loc.cit. pg. 369), is 
recommended for amyloid changes in the liver. 
In the so-called “ diseases of civilization” the ferric iodide 
of Blancard has proved signally effective. In the most 
prominent cf these affections, which we call nerastiienia— 
the debilitas nervosa of medical writers—and which consists 
essentially in debility or impaired activity of the nerves, an 
impoverished condition of the blood is always present. The 
organs of nutrition have become tired of supplying substance 
to be wasted in the feverish excitements and undue anxieties of 
social and business life. The French physicians call a form 
of neurasthenia, surmenage, meaning jaded, wearied and over- 
ridden with the burdens, real or imagined, of modern educa- 
tion. French writers of distinction regard surmenage intel- 
lectuel as a fruitful cause of anaemia. The young of both sexes 
are placed in schools where physical development is sacrificed 
to intellectual culture. A recent writer justly observes that 
these young people “ deprived of exercise, air and light, and a 
prey to nervous erethism induced by exaggerated mental labor, 
soon offer a weak resistance to most of the anaemia compli- 
cations. When they become grown they often retain the 
morbid impressions of youth, and when the pleasures of life and 
the pressure of affairs fall upon them, the system breaks down 
under the strain. Trouble of this kind in both sexes could 
easily have been avoided by remedying the defective nutrition 
and supplying the vital energies in augmenting the red 
globules of the blood. This might easily have been done by a 
proper use of the ferric iodide. We do not in fact, know of a 
better means of combating the evil results of surmenage than 
the nse of Blancard’s preparation of the iodide oi iron.” 
The definition of neurasthenia as given by the American 
authorities, developes some differences as to the exact nature 
of the affection, but all agree that, from whatever medical 
standpoint it may be regarded, the treatment is the same, and 
this always calls for alterative and reconstituent medicaments. 
Of these the iodide of iron has justly taken the lead. 
As defined by Rosenthal, neurasthenia spinalis is a func- 12 
tional weakness of the spinal cord, or a depressed form of 
spinal irritation. It is commonly known as nervous debility, 
wrhose seat, according to Rolando, Luys, and others, is in 
the cerebellum. Other authorities claim that it proceeds from 
an ancemic condition of the spinal cord. The symptoms are 
thus described by Dr. Loomis (Pract. Med. pg. 1049): “ These 
patients are weak, easily fatigued, and prostrated by slight 
muscular exertion. They are languid and despondent. There 
is aching in the limbs, the sleep is broken, they are always tired 
and subjects of nervous debility. The sexual powers are en- 
feebled. During the excitement or after alcoholic stimulants, 
neurasthenic patients are able to perform a large amount of 
mental labor, but afterward they are greatly prostrated. The 
emotions are easily excited, and they often imagine that they 
are the subjects of some grave organic disease.” This de- 
scription is simply a succinct statement of neurasthenia as it 
is seen and described every day by the general practitioner. 
The indication is, primarily, the iodide of iron. In some cases 
physicians have found a mild nervine necessary. Some prac- 
titioners, with Dr. Loomis, give strychnine and the hypophos- 
pliites with the ferrous preparation. But the prime medicine 
for this condition is undoubtedly the ferrous iodide. Dr. Bastian 
( Quain, pg. 1028-29), finds that certain of these troubles exist 
in patients having “ a neurotic habit of body ” and some of 
the “ transmitted neuroses; ” but the treatment he advises is 
the same, iodine and iron, or their combinations. 
Finally, the toxic and alterative properties of ferrous 
iodide have very recently received the highest praise from the 
French authorities in medicine: “Iodide of iron” according 
to Dr. Delmis (Progr'es Med.) “ belongs to those preparations 
of iron which possess the best ‘tonianaleptic ’ properties, com- 
bining the strengthening iron and the alterative iodine effects. 
Its efficacy is seen in chlorosis and aasemia, and it is of the 
highest value in tuberculosis, scrofulosis and syphilis. Iodide 
of iron is easily soluble and soon passes into the blood, where 
it is rapidly split up and eliminated. In the urine the iodine 
appears quickly as sodium iodide; the iron, as iron oxide, is 
excreted more slowly. It is excreted as iodide of iron by the 
saliva, the milk, the sweat, and the bronchial mucus.” 
BLANCARD’S IODIDE OF IRON PILLS. 
The iodide of iron was first introduced into therapeutics in 
1824, and was fully tested by Pierquin, Magendie, Pi6dagnel, 13 
Ricord and Andral ; and, later, by Bouchardat, Trousseau, 
Orfila, Miahle, Hebert, Foucart and others in European hospi- 
tals and private practice. But, while all agreed as to the 
remarkable power of the medicament in cases which had 
hitherto defied treatment, the unstable character of the com- 
position, its liability to decomposition when exposed to the 
air or moisture, and its disagreeable taste, were serious draw- 
backs to its general use. 
These difficulties were happily overcome in the year 1850 
by Mr. Blancard, who, by an entirely new pharmaceutical pro- 
cess succeeded in perfectly protecting the pure salt under the 
form of a pill, by this means affording to the profession a 
"perfect remedy devoid of taste and unalterable. Thus, nearly 
forty years ago, this great curative agent was given to the 
world in a form which made it easily available, while the method 
of preparation insured its freedom from the irritative proper- 
ties which are always to be found in badly prepared iodide of 
iron. The high reputation also, of the manufacturing chemist, 
tended still further to win the confidence of prescribers, until 
finally, the preparation was received everywhere and recognized 
as STANDARD. 
The endorsements of this preparation in England, as also 
in America from the time of its introduction by Dr. Samuel 
Jackson, are too well known to physicians to need repetition 
here. But it may not be out of place to present, briefly, 
some of the endorsements of the medical profession in France. 
FRENCH ACADEMY OF MEDICINE. 
(Sitting of August 13th, 1870.) 
Professors Guibobt and Lecanu, reporters. 
Extract.—‘ ‘ This process, which is very different to those generally 
adopted in pharmacy, seems to have been well conceived. By it the 
Ferrous Iodide, is covered firstly in substance eminently capable of absorb- 
ing the oxygen of the air in its stead, and susceptible of analogous action 
on the animal economy ; and, secondly, with another substance, which is 
scarcely or not at all hygrometic, and which is moulded perfectly and with- 
out the slightest fissure against the sides of the pill, not, however, aug- 
menting its size. 
“ The Pills that were submitted to us, and which we now show to you, 
and those which we have seen manufactured, seem to satisfy all practical 
exigencies by the regularity of their shape, the smallness of their size, the 
polish of their surface, and above all, their power of resisting the deter- 
iorating effects of external influences. 
“ In a word, we consider that Blancard’s process fulfills perfectly its ob- 14 
ject, namely, the preservation of ferrous iodide within the pills, by means 
of special manipulation. 
‘ ‘ Consequently we have the honour of proposing, gentlemen, that you 
should decide the process for the preservation of Ferrous Iodide Pills, in- 
vented by M. Blancard, offers great advantages and shall be published in 
the Bulletin of our labours, &c.—Adopted.”—Bulletin de T Academic de 
Medicine, 1850, p. 1046. 
DR. BOUGHARDAT, 
Professor to the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, &c., says j 
“I have already prescribed, with advantage, the pills prepared accord* 
ing to M. Blancard’s method ; his object the perfect preservation of Ferrous 
Iodide, is completely attained : this excellent medicament will be prescribed 
more frequently than it used to be.”—Annuaire de Therapeutique, 1851, 
p. 199. “M. Dupasquier has demonstrated that Ferrous Iodide was a 
precious agent in cases of tubercular diseases; he also insisted on the point 
that it was very subject to alteration, and that special precautions were 
necessary in its preparation and distribution. I was also impressed by the 
same inconveniences, and had adopted some available precautions, but in 
this matter M. Blancard has been far more successful.”—Nouveau Formic 
laire Magistral, 1853, p. 374. 
PROFESSOR ORFILA, 
Of the Paris Medical Faculty, &c , wrote the following ; 
“ To preserve Ferrous Iodide Pills indefinitely, they are rolled in iron 
powder, so as to prevent their oxidation while they are being prepared ; 
then they are soaked in a sort of varnish mixed with balsam of tolu, dis- 
solved in ether, from which the benzoic acid has been withdrawn by pre- 
vious digestion in water. This method (the Blancard process) is based on 
the volatile qualities of ether and the non-solubility, when thus surrounded, 
of the substance which it is desired to protect.”—Elements de Chimie, 1851, 
ii., p. 488. 
PROFESSOR TROUSSEAU, 
Paris Faculty of Medicine, &c., says : 
“ It is important that we should be able to obtain pills of ferrous iodide, 
which cannot be deteriorated by the action of the air or of damp, which 
have no smell or flavor of iron or iodide, and can be kept for an indefinite 
time. M. Blancard has succeeded in arriving at this result, ’&c., &c.— 
Traite de Therapeutique, 1855, voL i., p. 6. 
M. MIALHE, 
Professor to the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, and Chemist to 
IT. M. Napoleon III., states r 
“ Of all methods presented up to this day for administrating ferrous 
iodide in its pure condition, the best is the system invented by M. Blan. 
card.’’—Chime Applique e d la Physiologic et d la Thera/peutigne, 1866, p. 319. 15 
M. QTJEVENNE, 
Chief Chemist to the Hopital de la Charite, writes: 
“ The happy effects of Ferrous Iodide on obstinate cases of chlorosis, 
op scrofula, in certain cases of chronic syphilis, and, perhaps, even in 
phthisis have been placed in evidence by Pierquin, Bicord, Piedagnel, 
Bouchardat, Dupasquier; and we may now count on the constant and 
sure action of this medicament, formerly so difficult to preserve, for 
M.. Blancard has been able to insure its immutability by his ingenious 
method.”—Memoire star faction Physiologique et Therapeutique des 
Ferrugineux, 1854, p. 97. 
M. FERMOND, 
Chief Chemist to the Hospice de la Salpetriere, writes : 
“Blancard’s Pills are not merely an excellent medicament which can 
be kept with the greatest security, but in the method of covering them 
we have a new process which may render the greatest service to therapeutic 
science,” Ac.—Globe Industriel, 1855, p. 390 : Account of the Paris 
Universal Exhibition. 
M. HEBERT, 
Chief Chemist to the Bicetre Hospital, states: 
“Among the various preparations which we can recommend is M. Blan- 
card’s Ferrous Iodide Pills, ingeniously covered with a thin layer of balsamic 
and resinous varnish, and inclosed in flasks containing, under the guise of 
a seal, a fragment of silver leaf, which, being a re-active agent, serves 
to prove that the iodine has not lost any of its virtues, and con- 
sequently demonstrates the unalterable superiority of this product.— 
Gazette Jiebdomadaire de Midecine et de Chirurgie, 1855, p. 636: Account 
of the Paris Universal Exhibition. 
DR. FOUGART, 
Ex-Chief of the Clinical School of the Paris Faculty of Medicine, said : 
“And since we are speaking of the outer coating of medicaments, do not 
let us forget to mention M. Blancard’s Ferrous Iodide Pills. This chemist 
conceived the happy idea of covering them with an envelope of translucid 
and odorous balsam of tolu. This covering preserves the iodide from the 
contact with the -Mr, by which it would be so promptly decomposed, 
and maintains intact, and for a long time, all its qualities. A thin seal of 
silver attached to the cork will testify to the smallest alteration in 
the pills, and thus renders efficient control possible.”—Gazette dea 
Hopitctux, 1856, p. 502: Account of Paris Universal Exhibition. 
DR. BOUCHARDAT, 
Professor to Faculty of Medicine of Paris. 
■“It is very difficult to preserve Ferrous Iodide. Many happy efforts 
have been made to assure the preservation of this precious agent; but no 
method has proved so thoroughly successful as that proposed by M. 
Blancard, and which was adopted and inserted in the Pharmacopoeia. ”— 
NouveauFormulaire Magistral, 1875, p. 420. 16 
NOTICES IN MEDICAL AND CHEMICAL NEWSPAPERS. 
La Gazette Medicate (17th April, 1850), P Union Medicate (15th and 22nd 
August, 1850), la Gazette des Hopinaux (15th March, 1853, and 10th 
June, 1854). le Journal de Phannacie (October, 1850, p. 250). 
P Abeille Medicate (5th November, 1856), le Repertoire de Chimie et lie 
Phnrmacie, P Officine, published by Dor vault, le Traite de Phannacie, de 
Soubeiran, le Manuel de Pharmade, de Deschamps, d’Avallon; and finally, 
all the special works of pharmacy and medicine, all the pharmacopoeias, 
have reproduced in their columns descriptions of our method for the 
preservation of ferrous iodide in pills. 
BL AN CARD’S UNALTERABLE 
PILLS AND SYEUP OF THE IODIDE OF IE0N 
are so thoroughly well known that it seems hardly necessary 
to repeat the formulae, yet they are given below as of possible 
value for reference, although, as stated in the Jour, de St. 
Petersburg, and in the MoniteurTJniversel, as long ago as 1860: 
The Fabrication of Plancard's Pills requires great ability 
which is only obtained by an exclusive, long and continual 
practice. 
Each Pill comprises, among other principles, 0 gramme, 05 
of Ferrous Iodide and 0 gramme, 01 of finely divided iron 
affixed to the surface, the whole enveloped in a balsamic and 
resinous varnish Avhich weighs about 3 milligrammes. 
The Ferrous Iodide Syrup is used for the same complaints 
as the Pill, and is more suitable to children and to persons 
who are not able to swallow pills. This syrup is prepared by 
a new method which preserves all its virtues, and contains 
V200 Per cent, of pure Ferrous Iodide—that is to say, 1 deci- 
gramme (2 grains) of iron salts in each 20 grammes of syrup, 
the equivalent of one table-spoonful. 
The doses of both are affixed to the packages containing them. 
Like all Peputable Medicinal Preparations, Blancard’s pills 
of the iodide of iron Have Peen Counterfeited. Physicians 
therefore are warned to examine the signature of each pack- 
age, which reads as follows : 
Chemist, 40 Hue Bonaparte, Paris. 
Sole Agents for the United States, 
E. FOUGERA & CO, No. 30 NORTH WILLIAM STREET, 
NEW YORK.