Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
February,  1897.  J 
Correspondence. 
103 
recorded  as  to  the  therapeutical  constituents,  and  in  which  the  men- 
struum employed  in  making  the  official  tincture  is  different  from 
that  used  in  making  the  fluid  extract,  in  my  opinion  the  question  is 
open  yet,  and  I  hardly  venture  to  express  a  view  for  or  against. 
Indeed,  I  would  prefer  to  place  these  among  emergency  prepara- 
tions, in  which,  in  cases  demanding  prompt  action,  the  making  of 
a  tincture  from  the  fluid  extract  is  permitted,  but  in  which  the 
general  stock  should  be  made,  as  yet,  from  the  drug. 
Among  the  preparations  where  tinctures  may  be  made,  I  would 
include  all  these  fluid  extracts  not  official  and  of  which  no  standard 
menstruum  exists  for  making  either  the  tincture  or  fluid  extract. 
These  the  pharmacist  should  be  permitted  (expected)  to  mix  from 
the  respective  fluid  extract  when  he  has  a  call  for  the  tincture. 
Finally,  in  cases  where  the  menstruum  directed  by  the  U.S. P.  is 
decidedly  different  from  that  used  in  making  the  fluid  extract,  espe- 
cially in  those  cases  where  the  tincture  is  given  in  large  doses  and 
in  which  the  alcoholic  strength  of  the  tincture  is  very  much  less 
than  that  of  the  fluid  extract,  the  question  oi  therapy  extends  beyond 
the  drug  question.  If  the  fluid  extract  is  mixed  with  the  official 
menstruum,  an  unscientific  product  results  ;  if  it  be  not  mixed  with  the 
tincture  menstruum,  the  superabundance  of  alcohol  may  prove  objec- 
tionable. In  these  cases,  until  the  U.S. P.  is  corrected  and  identical 
solvents  used  in  making  both  tincture  and  fluid  extract  (which,  in 
my  opinion,  should  be  accomplished,  and  with  few  exceptions  can 
easily  be  done),  the  making  of  the  tincture  from  the  fluid  extract 
should  be  avoided,  unless  an  emergency  case  renders  it  absolutely 
necessary,  which  now  and  then  will  be  the  case. 
In  my  opinion  this  subject  is  one  worthy  of  some  study  and  con- 
sideration. I  see  no  reason  why  manufacturers  of  fluid  extracts 
should  not  give  directions  for  making  tinctures  from  fluid  extracts ; 
but,  in  my  opinion,  although  such  information  is  useful  in  emergency 
cases,  and  in  certain  cases  to  be  preferred,  I  would  not  advocate 
the  substitution  of  a  line  of  tinctures  made  in  this  way  without 
Pharmacopceial  authority.  I  feel  that  the  skill  required  in  making 
these  simplest  of  pharmaceutical  preparations  is  not  such  as  to  pre- 
vent their  preparation  from  the  drugs,  and  I  believe  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  Pharmacist  to  make  them  according  to  the  Pharmacopoeia,  until 
the  Pharmacopoeia  gives  him  the  privilege  of  selecting  either 
method.    This,  I  believe,  in  face  of  the  fact  that  in  my  opinion  cer- 
