THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
MARCH,  1897. 
ACETIC  ACID  AS  A  MENSTRUUM  AND  SOLVENT. 
By  Joseph  P.  Remington. 
Any  one  who  has  delved,  even  moderately,  into  the  pharmacy  of 
the  ancients,  must  have  noticed  the  frequency  with  which  the  vine- 
gar of  that  time  was  used  as  a  solvent,  but  the  nineteenth  century 
has  witnessed  the  gradual  decline  of  the  use  of  acetic  acid  in  phar- 
macy. 
The  alcohol  question,  which  is  so  perplexing,  and  which  is  still 
unsettled,  furnishes  a  reason  for  diverting  the  attention  of  the  phar- 
macist to  some  liquid  which  will,  occasionally,  take  its  place. 
The  object  of  the  following  experiments  is  to  determine  whether 
acetic  acid  cannot  be  made  to  replace  alcohol  in  at  least  some  of  the 
preparations  now  in  common  use. 
The  antiseptic  power  of  acetic  acid  is  frequently  overlooked,  and 
there  is  no  question  that  the  vinegars,  if  properly  made,  could  ad- 
vantageously replace  many  tinctures. 
Slightly  acidulated  liquids  are  palatable  to  most  patients,  and 
these,  when  combined  in  prescriptions  with  syrups,  are  particularly 
acceptable,  inasmuch  as  the  acid  counteracts  the  cloying  sweetness  of 
the  syrups. 
Then  again,  it  is  very  desirable  for  physicians  to  have  alternative 
preparations  of  the  same  drug  to  give  to  patients  who  are  liable  to 
become  victims  of  the  alcohol  habit,  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
the  prescribing  of  tinctures,  elixirs  and  other  alcoholic  preparations 
have  been  the  innocent  means  of  working  disaster. 
The  writer,  four  years  ago,  made  a  number  of  fluid  extracts,  using 
acetic  acid  in  place  of  alcohol.    These  have  been  allowed  to  stand 
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