622 
Editorial. 
Am  Jour.  Pharra. 
Dec,  1877. 
and  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  J.  G.  Richardson  a  large  number  of  microscopical 
preparations  and  the  effects  of  polarized  light  were  shown. 
The  rooms  were  kept  open  also  on  the  following  day  and  evening  and  were 
visited  by  a  large  number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen. 
Churchill's  Tincture  of  Iodine. — Under  this  name  a  preparation  has  been 
recently  employed  in  several  parts  of  the  United  States,  about  the  composition  of 
which  there  seems  to  be  some  uncertainty.  The  "American  Practitioner "  for 
November  copies  the  formula  marked  I  from  Churchill's  "Diseases  of  Women," 
1864,  and  mentions  two  other  formulas,  one  of  which,  No.  II,  we  find  in  Gaillard 
Thomas'  "  Diseases  of  Women,"  Philada.,  1868,  page  248.  It  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand why  this  should  be  called  a  tincture,  and  though  iodine  is  very  freely  soluble 
in  glycerin,  it  probably  does  not  dissolve  to  the  extent  directed.  The  third  formula 
mentioned  in  "  The  Practitioner,"  we  have  since  been  informed,  was  obtained  from 
a  professor  of  obstetrics  in  a  Western  medical  college,  but  we  have  not  had  time  to 
ascertain  in  which  medical  work  it  had  been  published  5  we  give  it  under  No,  III. 
1.  11.  in. 
lodin.  pur.,       ^iiss  Iodinii,  ^ss  Tinct.  Iodinii, 
Potass,  iodid,    ^ii  Glycerinae,      f^i  Acid,  carbol.  liq.  ad     p.  i 
Spir.  rectific,    f^xii  Hydrat.  chloral.,        pt.  ii 
Alcoholis,  f^iv 
The  preparation,  which  is  locally  applied  in  certain  uterine  diseases,  does  not 
appear  to  be  known  in  Great  Britain  by  the  name  under  which  it  was  sought  to 
introduce  it  in  the  United  States.  We  observe,  for  instance,  Dr.  E.  J.  Waring 
(u  Practical  Therapeutics,"  1871,  p.  350)  quotes  Churchill  as  having  used  the  "  caus- 
tic tincture  of  iodine,"  without,  however,  giving  a  formula  for  it.  P.  Squire's  "  Pharm- 
macopceias  of  the  London  Hospitals,"  1874,  does  not  mention  any  such  preparation, 
but  has  two  under  the  designation  Causticum  Iodi,  of  which  IV  is  employed  at  the  hos- 
pital for  diseases  of  the  skin,  and  V  at  the  Consumption  Hospital.  In  the  same  connec- 
tion the  Linimentum  Iodi  may  be  mentioned,  which  was  admitted  into  the  British 
Pharmacopoeia  of  1864  (No.  VI),  but  reduced  in  strength  in  the  edition  of  1867 
(No.  VII). 
IV. 
v; 
VI.  - 
VII. 
Iodine, 
m 
Iodide  of  potassium, 
3i 
gss 
gss 
Rectified  spirit, 
f^ss 
Water, 
f£ii 
Camphor, 
It 
It  should  not  be  overlooked  that  the  weights  and  measures  of  the  above  formulas 
are  those  of  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  the  ounce  weighing  437"5  grains,  and  the 
fiuidounce  being  one-twenty-fifth  smaller  in  volume  than  the  fluidounce  of  the 
U.  S.  P. 
The  last  formula  (VII)  is  nearly  identical  with  that  for  Liniment  iodure  vesicant 
of  Neligan,  which  Dorvault  ("  l'Officine,"  p.  596)  gives  as  follows:  Iodine  10, 
aodide  of  potassium  4,  camphor  2,  alcohol  60  parts. 
