594 
DECOCTUM ALOES COMPOSITUM CONCENTRATUM. 
much time, money, and labour on the improvement and production of a special 
medicine. 
These preparations are very frequently ahead of the Pharmacopoeia. 
In trying to meet this demand, however, we are afraid the manufacturing 
chemist is at times apt to overstep the bounds of propriety and truth. 
Such, we suspect, is sometimes the case with the preparation known as 
Decoct. Aloes Co. Concent. This article is, in common demand, four strengths ; 
or, in other words, 1 fluid ounce represents, when diluted with 3 fluid ounces of 
water, 4 fluid ounces of compound decoction of aloes, B. P. It is probable that 
this preparation may be asked from wholesale drug-houses without passing a 
thought on the possibility of producing such an article ; but a glance at the 
formula will at once show that the thing is simply impossible. 
To prove it: if we want the preparation to be four strengths, we must in¬ 
crease the quantity of ingredients four times. 
Now, in the quantity prescribed we have 8 ounces of tinct. cardam. co., 
which, multiplied by four, gives 32 ounces of tincture alone, while the whole 
product required is only 30 fluid ounces. Thus we see that the tincture of 
cardamoms excludes everything else, and 2 ounces over. What is to become of 
the other ingredients, weighing over 6 ounces—not speaking of the water neces¬ 
sary in the process ? 
The nearest approximation to the true formula which any one can come at is 
to proceed as directed, using the full quantity of water prescribed, and, after 
filtering, to evaporate the product to dryness, then adding this dried product to 
the 32 ounces of tincture of cardamoms; or to dissolve the product in a suffi¬ 
ciency of the tincture, and make up to 30 ounces with the remainder of tincture. 
By either of those methods the result would not be strictly correct. 
In the one case, the tincture of cardamoms alone would be more than the 
product required ; in the other case, the product would not contain the proper 
quantity of tincture. 
The best results we have obtained were by ignoring the process of boiling, 
and preparing this article as an ordinary tincture, by macerating the ingredients 
in the tincture of cardamoms for seven or fourteen days, with frequent agita¬ 
tion ; then straining, and allowing it to settle for about a fortnight. The 
bright solution may then be drawn off, and the residue filtered. 
By this method we have a product of about 35 fluid ounces, so that a sixth 
more of the ingredients is required ; but we have a bright solution, containing 
(even when diluted) the full flavour and taste of the several medicines contained 
in the prescription. 
We can also secure a degree of concentration far beyond what can be obtained 
by the officinal process, being able to produce an article of four or even eight 
strengths, while by the boiling process we have found it impracticable to obtain 
beyond three strengths, and then only by a laborious and roundabout method. 
The name decoction is a myth in this case, and is only retained as a term of 
convenience, rather to show w r hat the article should be than what it is. 
But I suppose the commercial deception may be excused, if not justifiable, 
when we consider the superior advantages which this unauthorized process has 
over the officinal one in the preparation of the so-called Decoct. Aloes Co. 
Concent. 
Glasgow , 1868. 
[The substitution of a “ tincture ” for “ Compound Decoction of Aloes” 
cannot be justified on any grounds that we are aware of. No doubt a de¬ 
mand exists in some quarters, among pharmaceutists and others, for “ con¬ 
centrated preparations but, although, there may be instances in which they 
serve a useful purpose, this is not always the case, nor is it in this direction 
that “ the love of something new ” is most likely to contribute to the advance- 
