206 
BKITISH PHAKMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
there can be n6 excuse for the manufacture of tinctures of inferior spirituous 
strength, a practice which, it is to be feared, is but too common. Of twelve 
specimens of proof-spirit tinctures recently purchased in diSerent parts of 
the country and sent to me for examination, not one contained the right pro- 
])ortion of spirit. On being distilled to dryness, they all furnished distillates 
having specific gravities below that of proof-spirit. The following table shows 
the strength of each specimen as indicated by the above process :— 
Name of Tincture. 
Initials 
Quantity 
Alcohol in 
of Vendor. 
sold for 4c?. 
100 parts. 
“ Tincture of Bhubarb,” 
B. & M. . 
. 1 fl. oz. 
. 41- 
P. W. . . 
. 1 „ 
. 36-5 
E. C. L. . 
. ^ „ 
. 44’5 
“ Laudanum,” . . . 
P. W. . . 
. li „ 
. 33-5 
3, • • • 
J. Al. . . 
• -^49? 
. 41* 
33 • • • 
B. & M. . 
. „ 
. 34* 
33 • • • 
H. & Q. . 
. 2 „ 
. 34* 
33 ... 
J. 
. 41- 
“ Paregoric Elixir,” 
B. & M. . 
• -^2 9 9 
. 39- 
P. W. . 
• -*-2 
. 45’5 
E. C. L. . 
. H „ • 
. 39- 
99 99 
J. Al. 
. 2 „ 
. 455 
Proof-sx)irit, B. P. . . 
Itectified spirit, B. P. 
From this table it is evident that only three of the twelve contained an 
amount of alcohol even approaching that of proof-spirit. And even those, 
instead of forty-nine per cent., contained but forty-four and a half, and two 
forty-five and a half. Five varied from thirty-nine to forty-one per cent. 
The remaining four contained only thirty-six and a half, two thirty-four, 
and thirty-three and a half respectively. 
In confirmation of the evidence afforded by the above figures, that the 
weaker tinctures are frequently made with spirit of inferior strength, several 
makers have admitted to me that they always mix their rectified spirit and 
water in the proportion of five to four, a few five to five. One of the latter 
actually seemed to be under the impression that rectified spirit was the same 
tiling as alcohol, and that as proof-spirit contained forty-nine of alcohol to 
fifty-one of water, he only saved a little trouble, and at the same time gave 
the public a slight benefit, by mixing fifty with fifty, “half-and-half” as he 
termed it. It had not, occurred to this individual that in adding (say) fifty 
lluid ounces of rectified spirit to the same quantity of water, he was mixing 
only forty-two ounces, hy weight, of the spirit with fifty ounces, by weight, 
of water; and that, moreover, the said spirit already containing six and three- 
quarter ounces of water, his ninety-two ounces, by weight, of mixture only 
contained about thirty-five ounces, by weight, of alcohol; that, in short, in¬ 
stead of having a diluted spirit containing fifty, or even forty-nine per cent. 
• of alcohol, he was using one containing only about thirty-eight (38*3), and 
this in the face of the plain statement of the Pharmacopoeia that proof-spirit 
is made from rectified spirit and water in the proportion of five pints to three. 
With regard to the nature of the alcohol in these specimens of tinctures, it 
was in nine cases purely ethylic; the other three contained methylic alcohol. 
The presence of the latter was indicated by Tuck’s iodohydrargyride of po¬ 
tassium, confirmed by Miller’s oxidation tests. The three meth 3 dated tinc¬ 
tures came from one shop, that of P. W. It is unnecessary to make any 
remark concerning these three adulterated x^reparations; the extensive use of 
