Ferrum acts preeminently upon the blood in such a manner as to produce a debilitating and disorganizing effect upon the entire system, the nutrition being profoundly affected. The watery portions of the blood are increased, the albumen is decreased, and the number of red corpuscles is diminished, this being accomplished through the influence of Iron on the blood making organs, the result being that condition known as anaemia, in the treatment of which Iron constitutes the most important remedy. The beneficial effects of Iron in anaemic states, however, are not due to the fact that it is supplied as a food to the blood which is deficient in this constituent, for, as Hughes truly remarks, "the malady does not ordinarily arise from any failure in the quantity of Iron supplied in the food. If the element is deficient in the blood, the fault lies in the assimilative processes. Pr. Richard Hughes (1836-1902) But Reveil has ascertained that in anaemia there is no change whatever in the amount of Iron present in the blood. However few the corpuscles, they contain within them the full proportion of the metal normal to health ; and though under the influence of Iron itself they increase to double and triple their number, they yield no more Iron." It is also true that when Iron is introduced into the system in large quantities, with a view to supplying the deficiency of Iron in the blood, that it is not assimilated, but may be almost entirely reobtained from the feces, having been eliminated by the intestines. It is thus evident that Iron does not act as a curative agent by virtue of its absorption as a constituent of the blood, but rather are we led to conclude from its physiological effects upon the organs and tissues of the body, that it owes its therapeutic virtues to the same essential dynamic agency possessed by other drugs, and its application is subject to the same therapeutic law. Characteristic symptoms.