124 
Tincture  of  Mustard. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
March,  1889. 
Yellow  crystals  of  mercurous  iodide  were  obtained  by  the  process 
recommended  by  Stroman  (Berichte,  1887,  p.  2818)  by  boiling  mer- 
curous nitrate  with  excess  of  iodine.  On  washing  the  crystals  with 
water,  they  are  converted  into  a  red  powder. 
Salicylate  of  Cinchonidine  was  prepared  by  Sherman  L.  Carroll, 
Ph.  G.,  by  precipitating  cinchonidine  from  its  sulphate,  dissolving  it 
in  a  hydro-alcoholic  solution  of  salicylic  acid  and  evaporating.  The 
solution  had  a  strong  tendency  to  creep  over  the  sides  of  the  dish  and 
the  salt  had  a  reddish  color.  Satisfactory  results  were  obtained  on 
precipitating  solutions  of  cinchonidine  hydrochlorate  and  sodium 
salicylate,  drying  the  precipitate,  dissolving  in  alcohol,  filtering 
through  animal  charcoal,  and  crystallizing. 
TINCTURE  OF  MUSTARD. 
By  Joseph  W.  England,  Ph.  G. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  February  10th. 
Internally  as  an  emetic,  and  externally  as  a  rubefacient,  mustard 
has  held  popular  pre-eminence,  as  a  safe  and  efficient  remedy,  from 
the  earliest  period ;  and  it  is  strange  to  note  that,  although  it  has  been 
used  with  unvarying  success  in  the  directions  mentioned,  any  prepara- 
tions of  it  have  never,  apparently,  been  employed  for  internal  adminis- 
tration. 
It  is  possible  that  the  disinclination  to  use  preparations  internally 
may  have  arisen  through  a  belief  that  any  such  compounds  must 
necessarily  partake  of  its  emetic-producing  properties.  This  idea  is 
an  erroneous  one.  It  is  now  recognized  that  the  emetic  qualities  of 
ground  mustard  seeds  are  dependent  for  their  exciting  cause  upon  the 
minute  particles  enveloping,  or  having  adherent  to  them,  particles  of 
the  acrid  and  volatile  principles  of  mustard,  which  act,  mechanically, 
as  local  irritants  to  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  stomach,  and  thus 
cause  a  revulsive  action,  and  that  it  is  not  due  to  any  centric  influ- 
ence. 
Believing,  then,  that  mustard  in  the  form  of  a  tincture  would  pos- 
sess valuable  stimulating  properties,  the  writer  prepared,  over  a  year 
ago,  an  alcoholic  preparation  of  this  drug  and  urged  its  medicinal  em- 
ployment, especially  in  those  conditions  which  are  graphically  ex- 
pressed by  the  term  "  drunk-cases."  It  was  found  to  answer  admira- 
bly.   Possessing  the  aromatic  qualities  of  ginger  and  the  sharply 
