As to itS effects on metabolism, Stock man found that the quantity of iron in the ordinary daily diet. of healthy per sons with good appetite averaged from '/, to 1/, grain a day. The convales cent diet of the Edinburgh Royal firmary, a sufficient maintenance for per sons leading a s.omewhat inactive life, contained V„ grain a day. In the diet of a young lady, living in the ordinary way and taking an average amount of food, 1/, grain was found in the daily diet, while in that of two chlorotic girls who ate very little the quantity of iron averaged '/„ grain a day (four estima tions).
That the iron metabolism of the body must be small is evident; the metal seems to be used over and over again. The total excreted daily by all channels is less than 1/i,„ grain a day.
Experiments in regard to the influence which iron exercises over nitrogenous metabolism in the healthy body gave the following results: 1. Iron has no marked influence on nitrogenous metamorphosis in the healthy body. 2. The ingestion of I iron in daily doses of 0.3 to 0.5 grain causes a very slight decrease in the as similation of the nitrogenous portions of the food. 3. After bleeding the assimila tion of nitrogenous substances increases a little whether iron is used or not. but if iron is used at this time the liTmo globin is rapidly reproduced, and the drug would seem to be of value in re storing the bodily weight. Skvortzoft (Wratseh, No. 29, 'SS).
The lowered amount of hzernoglobin and the histological changes of the blood depend not upon the condition of the food, but simply upon the want of iron, since with this one cannot only avoid, but also iznprove such conditions. Iron given in a form uncombined with organic material is taken up and assimilated by the animal organism. Cappola (Weekly Med. Review, Aug. 2, '90).
Less iron is excreted during the admin istration of iron than before. This phe nomenon is attributed to the retention of the iron by the tissues, and not by the blood. After intravenous injections, a considerable amount of the metal is ex creted into the intestinal tract, and, after protracted administration of iron in this manner, the largest amount is found in the liver. Iron, like other metals, ac cumulates in the liver. Iron is poisonous when injected into the circulation, and not so when given by the mouth, because, in the first instance, the metal does not all reach the liver at once, the part re maining; in the blood acting as a dele terious agent; while, in the second in stance, the iron is first absorbed by the intestines, then taken to the liver, there retained, and from there enters the sys tem gradually. R. Gottlieb (Zeits. f.
phys. Chernie, R. 15, H. 5, '91).
When an animal has been bled, all the organs, especially the liver, are robbed of iron to keep up the supply of hzemoglobin necessary for life. Kunkel (Areh. f. d. Gesammte Phys., '95).
The kidney is not the means of elimi nation of iron. Examination of the urine is of value in elucidating the question of the normal disintegration of iron in the economy. Lapicque (Archives de Phys. Norm. et Path., No. 2, '95).
Iron is constantly being eliminated both in urine and freces even during fast ing. Raw meat apparently furnishes an available form of iron for absorption under normal conditions. Inorganic iron, as represented by ferrons sulphate, is non-absorbable. Albuminates and pep tonates of iron are absorbable, but to a limited extent. Organ:c iron, of which bzernatin and hzemoglobin are representa tives, furnishes the most easily absorb able and most valuable of all iro» prepa rations. Austin (Boston Med. and Surg. Jour., Mar. 2, '99).
Therapeutics.— The chief indication for the exhibition of iron is the presence of amemia, a condition in which the hwmoglobin of the blood is present in a less amount than normal. The opposite condition, or plethora, is a contra-indica tion. The Immoglobin may be deficient in quantity either from defective or de ficient hmogenesis (formation of blood) or by reason of excessive hmmolysis (de struction or breaking up of the red blood corpuscles). The best results with iron are obtained in cases belonging to the former class. Since amemia may be due to various causes,—an insufficient food supply, an excessive drain or blood-waste from chronic affections, scrofula, tuber culosis, syphilis, or suppurating abscess and other exhausting discharges, or from repeated hmmorrhages, or from the con tinued action of certain poisons, such as mercury and lead,—it follows that these causes may be grouped into two classes: removable and permanent. Tn the for mer class we may expect the best results from ferruginous medication.