IRON.

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superseded, of late years, by the sulphate of quinine and by arsenic. Inasthma, Dr. Bree (On Asthma), who was himself a sufferer from thedisease, regards iron as preferable to all other remedies. However, theexperience of others has not confirmed his favourable opinion of it.The sesquioxide of iron has latterly been extensively employed, at therecommendation of Mr. B. Hutchinson ( Cases of Tic Doulour. successfullytreated), in tic douloureux, and with variable success; in some casesacting in a most extraordinarily beneficial manner, in others being ofno avail.

In diseases of the spleen and liver, the ferruginous compounds areoccasionally found useful. I have already alluded to the influence whichthey are supposed to possess over these organs ; a supposition the moreprobable from the occasional remarkable effects produced by them indiseases of these organs. “ I regard iron as a specific ,” says Cruveilliier,(Diet, de Med. et de Chir. Prat. t. viii. p. 62), “ in hypertrophy of thespleen, or chronic splenitis; whether primitive or consecutive to inter-mittent fevers.” After noticing the symptoms attending this con-dition (such as paleness of the lips, &c. great lassitude, abdominal andcephalic pulsations, brought on by the slightest exertion ; pain at the leftside, disordered state of the digestive organs, accelerated pulse, andheart easily excited), he goes on to remark, “ By the aid of iron Ihave obtained the complete resolution of enlargements of the spleen,which have occupied half, or even two-thirds, of the abdomen.” Inhypertrophy of the liver, iron has not been equally serviceable.

Some years ago the preparations of iron were strongly recommended incancer by Mr. Carmichael (op. cit.) The grounds on which he was ledto the use of them were the probability that cancer had an independentlife—in other words, that it was a kind of parasite, as some precedingwriters, more particularly Dr. Adams, had presumed; and secondly, theefficacy of iron in destroying intestinal worms, which led him to hopethat it would be equally destructive to other parasites. With these viewshe employed (externally and internally) various ferruginous compounds—namely, the ferrotartrate of potash, the subcarbonate (sesquioxide) of iron,and the phosphates. 'Whatever hopes may have at one time been enter-tained of these remedies as curative agents, in this most intractable disease,they are now completely destroyed. That these medicines are occasionallyuseful as palliatives may perhaps be admitted; but they have no cura-tive powers. Indeed this might have been suspected, from the hypo-thetical grounds on which they were introduced into use. The proofs ofthe parasitical nature of cancer must be much stronger than any yetoffered, ere we can admit this hypothesis. Moreover, the preparationsof iron, though useful, are not so “ very effectual” in worms as Mr.Carmichael’s remarks would lead us to imagine.

In certain affections of the digestive organs, the preparations of ironare occasionally used with benefit ; as in some forms of dyspepsia, butonly in the conditions of system already noticed. In some affectionsof the nervous system which occur in weak debilitated subjects, it is alsouseful; for example, in epilepsy, chorea, hysteria, and the shaking palsyproduced by the vapour of mercury.

These are the most important diseases for which we employ theferruginous compounds. There are many other diseases for which chaly-beates are occasionally beneficial; but the general principles regulating