456 
Tincture  of  Strophanthus. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
X      Sept  ,  18S9. 
Tr.  Iodi,  U.  S.  P.,  is  8  per  cent.    Br.  Ph.  is  J  oz.  to  20  fl.  ozs. 
Tr.  Veratri  Yiridis,  U.  S.  P.,  is  50  per  cent.    Br.  Ph.  is  4  ozs.  to 
20  fl.  ozs. 
Tr.  Opii,  U.  S.  P.,  contains  about  6  grs.  of  morphine  to  the  fluidounce. 
Br.  Ph.  about  3'3  grains. 
The  second  point  on  which  we  would  comment  is  that  Dr.  Squibb 
recommends  a  second  drying  of  the  seeds  after  extraction  with  ether, 
stating  that  the  powder  then  loses  over  five  per  cent,  of  weight  addition- 
ally. He  proposes  to  adjust  the  weight  of  the  tincture  to  the  weight 
of  the  seed  after  deducting  this  loss.  As  this  second  weighing  has 
been  omitted  by  all  other  writers,  Dr.  Squibb  would  make  his  tincture 
stronger  to  that  extent. 
Perhaps  the  most  radical  change  proposed  is  the  weakness  of  the 
alcoholic  menstruum  to  be  used  (62  per  cent).  That  rectified  spirits 
would  not  entirely  extract  the  bitter  principle  from  the  marc  was 
proven  by  Mr.  AY  in.  Elborne,  who  found  "  that  the  rectified  spirit 
exhausted  the  seed  of  about  7*0  per  cent,  of  extractive  of  an  albu- 
minous nature,  leaving  about  1*5  per  cent,  of  the  bitter  principle  in 
the  marc,  and  that  the  loss  of  the  latter  would  not  be  remedied  by 
increasing  the  quantity  of  menstruum,  due  to  the  coagulating  effect 
of  the  spirit  exerted  over  a  certain  portion  of  the  albumen  with 
which  that  portion  of  the  bitter  principle  was  associated.  By  lower- 
ing the  alcoholic  strength  of  the  menstruum  it  could  readily  be 
effected,  yet  not  without  the  extraction  of  a  corresponding  large  quan- 
tity of  albuminous  matter,  which  would  prove  highly  objectionable,  how- 
ever, since  the  latter  by  over-dilution  is  on  escape  of  the  alcohol  very 
prone  to  decomposition  and  develops  a  very  fietid  odor.1 — Phar.  Jour, 
and  Trans..  March  12,  1887. 
My  own  experiments  led  me  to  adopt  a  menstruum  of  seven  vol- 
umes of  alcohol  and  one  volume  of  water,  yielding  an  alcohol  of 
•8530  specific  gravity  containing  78'52  per  cent,  of  alcohol  by  weight, 
81*27  per  cent,  by  volume.  A  menstruum  of  this  strength  yields  a 
tincture  which  after  a  year  shows  no  sign  of  precipitation. 
The  sample  of  the  seeds  used  in  my  experiments  was  of  the  Kombe 
1According  to  L.  Larniuth,  the  bitter  principle  on  being  dissolved  in  water 
will  in  a  few  days  undergo  some  change  and  become  far  more  toxic  than  when 
recently  prepared.  (See  Amer.  Jour.  Pharm.,  1887,  424).  The-:e  statements 
would  indicate  that  Tr.  Strophanthus  should  not  be  prescribed  in  aqueous 
mixtures,  a  fact  which  I  believe  has  generally  been  overlooked  by  the  medical 
profession. 
