REMARKS UPON TINCTURES. 
343 
have I been reminded of that which has for some months and from time to 
time occupied my thoughts and attention, namely, whether the processes as given 
in the Pharmacopoeia for the preparation of tinctures are the best that could be 
devised; whether in all cases they have been most judiciously'selected; and 
whether in all or any an improvement could be made? If not in the actual pro¬ 
cess, I am quite satisfied that practically in the manipulation, something remains 
to be done. Every item or particular of manipulation could not, I am aware, 
be written in any book, any more thau it would be possible to make all men avail 
themselves equally of the gifts bestowed by Providence and nature upon them. 
But to proceed : is the Pharmacopoeia process of maceration and displacement, 
with subsequent pressure, a good process, and does it possess any advantage 
over maceration alone with pressure ? In most cases, I believe,—and I speak 
from some experience,—it is a good, perhaps the best process that could have 
been devised, especially if, in addition to what I shall say presently, and as I 
have described in the fifth volume of the Pharmaceutical Journal, second series, 
page 442, it is carried out in one and the same vessel, acting both as a macerat¬ 
ing vessel and displacement apparatus. There is then no loss by transference from 
one vessel to the other; the tincture is commenced, carried on to a certain extent, 
even to the pressing, in the same vessel and finished within a given time, so that 
there is no loss by evaporation, no chance of a portion being poured off for im¬ 
mediate use, thus disturbing the uniformity of the product by leaving the marc 
for pressure at a more convenient time. Is the process equally well adapted to 
all the cases in which it is ordered ? I think not. For instance, tincture of 
capsicum, where the amount of solid matter to be operated upon is small, namely 
three-quarters of an ounce to the pint, can, like tincture of cantharides and 
compound tincture of lavender, be as well prepared by maceration alone with 
pressure ; or better still, wffien required quickly, either of the three by the or¬ 
dinary process of percolation, and for tincture of myrrh there can, I feel, be no 
improvement upon percolation. But whilst the Pharmacopoeia recognizes per¬ 
colation pure and simple as the best for the essence or strong tincture of ginger, 
it ignores it for tincture of ginger, where it might with equal advantage be 
adopted, particularly as the solid matter acted upon is comparatively small, and 
can without any difficulty be thoroughly exhausted by the spirit employed ; or I 
may just propose that it may be equally well prepared by proportionately re¬ 
ducing the strong tincture. Would a longer period of maceration be advan¬ 
tageous in any case? For the tinctures of rhatany, senna, compound carda¬ 
moms, rhubarb, and gentian, I prefer six days to forty-eight hours, although 
a good tincture can be made with forty-eight hours’ maceration, displacement, 
and pressure, if frequent agitation or stirring be attended to during the time 
allotted to maceration ; for tincture of chiretta, maceration alone I believe 
more practicable than the compound process, but neither will entirely deprive 
the chiretta of its bitterness, at least by one application of the spirit menstruum. 
Can the process be improved, even where, at present, most successful? In 
practice, I feel, and may without presumption say, that I know it can, and in 
this way : in nearly all the tinctures there is always a certain loss of the men¬ 
struum by absorption, evaporation, or otherwise, in some more, some less. In 
cascarilla, rhubarb, orange, henbane, senna, and calumbo, the loss of fluid 
ranges from ten to twenty ounces in the gallon of tincture ; and this loss the 
Pharmacopoeia directs to be made up after the tincture is finished. Now, know- 
ing by repeated observation how much each loses, instead of adding the men¬ 
struum at last, after the completion of the work and all products obtained, I pass 
that quantity, the usual amount of loss, also through the marc, thereby making 
all the spirit do its share of work, and thereby more fully ensuring the exhaus¬ 
tion of the ingredients. I shall, perhaps, be told that this is simply tantamount 
to employing more menstruum to the same quantity of material. True, to a 
