568 
Official  Lead  Preparations. 
f Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I  November.  1897. 
for  this  preparation  from  the  water  spigot,  it  still  remains  that  the 
solution  cannot  be  kept  long  in  a  cloudless  condition. 
Many  prefer  to  dispense  a  cloudy  solution,  to  lessen  the  liability 
of  error  in  connection  with  lime  water. 
In  the  Aqua  plumbi  Goulardi,  a  spiritous  form  of  lead  water  of 
several  continental  pharmacopoeias,  ordinary  soft  water  is  directed. 
An  important  feature  is  thereby  lost  sight  of,  namely  the  impair- 
ment of  the  efficacy  of  the  preparation  as  a  local  application,  the 
insoluble  lead  sulphate  and  carbonate  not  possessing  an  equal  value. 
For  the  Pharmacopoeia  to  direct  recent  preparation  is  also  imprac- 
ticable and  would  be  disregarded. 
The  writer  attempted  to  estimate  the  percentage  of  basic  lead  sub- 
acetate  in  samples  of  lead  water  procured  from  the  shops,  but,  due  to 
the  constantly  decreasing  strength  of  the  official  preparation,  found 
it  impracticable  to  fix  a  definite  standard. 
It  was  found,  however,  that  commercial  lead  water  presents  even 
greater  variations  in  strength  than  Goulard's  extract. 
In  view  of  the  liability  of  confounding  the  solution  with  liquor 
calcis,  it  is  perhaps  not  out  of  place  to  call  attention  to  the  direction 
of  the  French  codex  to  add  a  small  quantity  of  vulnerary  spirit,  an 
alcoholic  solution  of  the  oils  of  lavender,  sage  and  rosemary. 
In  connection  with  the  official  lead  solutions,  the  writer  would 
finally  call  attention  to  a  preparation  recently  published  in  Diete- 
rich's  Manual,  namely,  a  dried  lead  subacetate,  plumbum  aceticum 
siccum.  As  the  quantities  of  the  ingredients  are  based  upon  the 
German  Pharmacopoeia,  it  is  unnecessary  to  reproduce  them  here. 
From  this  dried  salt,  both  Goulard's  extract  and  lead  water  may 
be  made  extemporaneously,  and  as  its  preparation  presents  no  diffi- 
culty to  the  practical  pharmacist,  a  similar  compound,  based  on 
U.S. P.  quantities  can  easily  be  furnished. 
The  salt  would  solve  a  problem  which,  as  long  as  the  solutions 
are  official,  will  always  confront  the  pharmacist,  namely,  rapid  and 
recent  preparation. 
THE  LEAD  ACETATE   OF  COMMERCE. 
By  far  the  greatest  importance,  and  of  paramount  influence  upon 
Goulard's  extract  and  similar  preparations,  is  found  in  the  quality  of 
the  lead  salts. 
First  attention  is  claimed  by  the  acetate. 
