158    ON  THE  UNCERTAINTY  OF  PHARMACEUTICAL  PREPARATIONS. 
Of  the  advantages  of  fluid  extracts  over  the  crude  material  it  is 
hardly  necessary  to  speak  ;  the  object  is  to  separate  the  effete 
matter  from  the  active  principle  by  employing  the  proper  men- 
struum in  all  cases  as  the  solvent,  and  also  to  concentrate  and  have 
an  uniformity  of  dose  as  far  as  practicable,  which  is  a  great  de- 
sideratum, and  can  generally  be  accomplished  better  in  this  form 
than  in  any  other. 
There  is  another  form  of  remedial  agents  we  wish  to  mention  in 
this  connection,  which  should  receive  the  attention  of  the  physician, 
viz.:  that  of  "  Saccharated  Medicinal  Powders" — a  few  remarks 
on  which  we  copy  from  the  "  Annals  of  Pharmacy  :  " 
"  Some  of  the  most  useful  of  our  pharmaceutical  preparations 
are  those  known  as  Tinctures,  which  hold  in  solution  many  of  the 
most  active  principles  of  vegetable  substances.  Yet  as  Alcohol, 
either  pure  or  more  or  less  diluted  with  water,  constitutes  the 
greater  part  of  their  composition,  the  frequent  administration  of 
this  substance  is  occasionally  open  to  serious  objections,  both  on 
the  part  of  the  physician  and  his  patient.  For  this  reason  Dr. 
Becker  recommends  the  employment  of  Saccharated  Medicinal 
Powders  as  substitutes  for  Tinctures,  whenever  the  latter  may  be 
considered  objectionable.  He  directs  equal  proportions  of  the 
Tinctures  of  Hellebore,  Cinchona,  Hyoscyamus,  or  of  other  vege- 
table substances,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  sugar,  to  be  well  mixed 
together,  and  then  evaporated,  so  as  to  drive  off  the  Alcohol,  and 
then  to  administer  the  residue  instead  of  the  Tincture.  To  this 
residue  he  gives  the  name  of  Helleborus  Saccharatus,  Hyoscyamus 
Saccharatus,  Cinchona  Saccharata,  &c,  &c,  according  to  the  drug 
made  use  of." 
This  mode  of  preparation  of  medical  substances  has  attracted 
the  attention  of  some  of  the  medical  authorities  of  our  own  country, 
for  in  reference  to  this  subject  the  editor  of  one  of  the  medical 
journals  makes  the  following  practical  observations  :  "  Supposing 
the  unimpaired  medical  properties  of  the  Tinctures  can  be  thus 
fixed  in  these  powders,  (which  is  problematical,)  this  mode  of  ad- 
ministration would  prove  a  great*boon  to  physician  and  patient. 
Not  only  is  Alcohol  obviously  mischievous  in  many  cases  wherein 
the  active  principles  of  which  it  is  the  vehicle  are  indicated,  but 
in  others,  in  which  such  contra-indication  is  not  so  apparent.  It 
