The liver is especially rich in iron in pernicious anmmia. Stithlen (Deutsch. Arch. f. klin. Med., p. 248, '95).
Ferric chloride is transformed in the alimentary canal first into ferrous chlo ride, which combines with albumin to form a soluble product by which the iron is absorbed. Cervello (Archivio Ital. de Biol., xxv, 3).
Ferruginous drugs only act by sugges tion,—the iron which is to be assimilated must be obtained from the market garden, and not from the pharmacy. Bunge (Lancet, Apr. 20, '95).
Bunge's hypothesis criticised. The startling conclusion that the results of the treatment by iron must be referred to the domain of suggestion, and that a diet rich in iron, particularly meats, eggs, spinach, etc., should be substituted for the usual method of administration refuted. Reinert (Wien. med. Blatt., Apr. 25, '95).
An iron alburninate passes in a soluble condition into the epithelial cells of the duodenum, and is precipitated in then) in the form of granules. It then passes into the central part of the villi and into the mesentclic glands by tile aid of lymph corpuscles. In part it seems to pass in solution in the blood-capillaries. The ac cumulation of iron in the submucous tis sue of the large intestine is connected with its excretion, which is probably effected by the extrusion of iron-laden lencoeytes. Driehaus and Quincke (Ar chiv f. exp. Path. u. Pliarm., pp. 159-182, Experiments made with newborn dogs demonstrating that the presence of iron salts in the food was not immaterial to the formation of limmoglobin, that there was no absorption of iron salts, and that the liver seemed to regulate absorption in the same way as it did glycogencsis. Cloetta (Archly f. Path. u. Pharm., The principal absorption of iron in man is in the duodenum. The iron is stored in the liver and the spleen, and is excreted hy the kidney and large in •11 t 111 .111 .1 tl, .
11. 1.1111t- Of iron 11 t 11',1t 1 ts ill t lut IA uni dire, into he lymph .. I ,11.1.1111 tilts :1gl'Iley t! t I 1111(11.11 t1.11,. ille 1111,01111e ;11110111a 1 .1., 1)..1!).• Nel'y ,111;111. The bed iron i- depo.ite.t chiefly in the .1 .A. ii. and portly in the Iher and bone
iwarrow. in the two organs last named prol..11)1 in org:Anie combinations which do not alwa.‘. permit of its detection, w I ile only the iron which is freed owing to the exten-ive di.integration of red Aell- following atia-mia. starvation, etc., -tored in the li‘er in a loo.e combina tion. The excretion of iron occurs in the ca.cum. colon. an.l rectum. and to a much le., extent by means of the epi thelial cells of the convoluted tubules of the kidneys. The addition of inorganic ferrit. saltA to the food of rabbits in crea.e- to a high the iron in liver and spleen. The addition of inorganic ferric salts to artificial iron-free food increases con-iderably the amount of iron in the body. though it does not come up to the amount of normally fed anintal, a favorable influence upon the general condition also being noted. The efficiency of inorganic preparations in amemia not to be sought in irrita tion of the brematopoietie organs. but probably in a direct action by yielding the iron necessary for the building up of new- red cell.. H. Landau (Zeit. f. klin. INIed.. vol. xlvi, Nos. 1 to 4, 1902: Nov. S. 1902).
(See also AN,E3IIA and ANzEMIA, PER NICIOUS.) Results obtained in a series of experi ments performed upon the lower animals shows that iron may act toxically only when it is injected into the blood or hypodermically. The action is chiefly manifested by paralysis of the central nervous system, preceded by a period of irritation. The drug produces death by asphyxia. the result of a direct action on the respiratory centre. When the drug is administered subcutaneously for a long time, inflammatory changes'are pro duced on the kidneys. The neutral arations of iron do not produce symp toms of poisoning. (Wojtaszek.) Iron administered hypodermically re mains in the org,anisin as an assimilable substance, producing hyperminia in vari ous organs and tissues, favoring the ab sorption of cedema in ancemic patients, the destruction of old red corpuscles, and I the formation of new Ilminatins. Roeci (Sixth Italian Congress of International I Med., Rome; Univ. Med. Jour., p. 366, '95).