17 
LINIMEXTA BELLADONXEE ET ACONITI. 
BY A. F. HASELDElSr. 
From the first appearance of these two preparations in the British Pharina- 
tjopoeia up to the present moment, two particular and prominent features in 
them seem calculated to strike and make a forcible impression upon the practical 
man, and undoubtedly others have observed and experienced all that may be 
written by myself. The two striking features are, in the first place, the im¬ 
provement in point of cleanliness, appearance, and miscibility of them with 
other liniments, over the solutions in any shape of the aqueous extracts of the 
leaves. Secondly, the absence of good, economical, practical experience in the 
forms laid down for their preparation. 
The superiority of them as stated has, I believe, been generally admitted, and 
so far their introduction has been well appreciated ; it is upon the latter part 
that I desire to write a few wmrds, and so draw attention to it. 
To make the case clear to some readers it appears necessary to repeat here 
the P. B. form for one of these liniments, to wit,—Take of belladonna root, in 
powder, twenty ounces ; camphor, one ounce; rectified spirit, thirty fluid ounces, 
or a sufficiency. Moisten the root with a portion of the spirit, and macerate 
for seven days ; then percolate into a receiver containing the camphor, until 
the product amounts to one pint. 
Mr. Stephenson, speaking of these liniments, says, surely they are too strong, 
twenty ounces of spirit will hardly exhaust twenty ounces of root. Vide Phar¬ 
maceutical Journal, pages 398-9, vol. v. second series. Now I find by expe¬ 
rience that the dry powdered root of belladonna absorbs in the moistening, in 
the preparation either of one pint or three, as nearly as possible the same 
quantity of spirit by measure as there is dry powder by weight, and by the 
process of displacement a quantity of spirit equal to that absorbed is necessary 
to produce the required amount of product, so that forty fluid ounces of spirit 
are required for twenty ounces of liniment strictly following the Pharmacopoeia. 
This is the largest quantity of spirit likely to be used, less has sometimes sufficed; 
there are then from fifeeen to twenty ounces of spirit left in the marc. An exact 
and scrupulous man would be disposed to throw away the marc as the P. B. 
does not direct what is to be done with it, and the liniment so prepared would 
be produced with a needless loss of material, and at an extravagant price ; and 
though cost may not be an object to the builders of a Pharmacopoeia, it is often 
of vital importance to the sick who stand in need of relief from suffering. The 
question which naturally suggests itself, and which requires answering is this, 
Should this waste take place, or should the spirit or rather tincture be displaced 
by water or strong salt and water, or should as much as possible be obtained by 
pressure in the ordinary way after the quantity has been percolated ? By pres¬ 
sure I have upon more than one occasion saved a considerable quantity of 
strong tincture, in my opinion quite equal to that obtained by the displacement. 
Following up Mr. Stephenson’s observation, the quantity of spirit ordered, or 
more properly speaking, the product, cannot contain all the value of the root; 
otherwise, in the form for preparing atropia, five pints or even more of rectified 
spirit would scarcely be necessary to exhaust one pound of root. I do not 
know that there is an actual necessity that the root should be exhausted, pro¬ 
vided the preparation be uniform, but I do think that as little waste as.possible 
is desirable. If, in the interests of science, it should be thought that the root 
should be exhausted, the surplus spirit might be recovered by distillation (for 
future use) leaving the precise quantity of spirituous liquid extract which 
would represent a given quantity of root. I do not give it as my opinion 
that this is advisable in a preparation intended only for external use. 
VOL. VIII. 
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