576         Preparation  of  Tinctura  Opii  Deodoratu  {XcimbeJiigoo?* 
AN  IMPROVED  PROCESS  FOR  THE  PREPARATION  OF 
TINCTURA  OPII  DEODORATI. 
By  Frederick  T.  Gordon. 
Although  furnishing  a  most  satisfactory  product,  provided  that 
there  has  been  skill  and  care  in  manipulation,  the  present  U.S.P. 
process  for  the  preparation  of  Tinct.  Opii  Deodorati  is  far  from 
being  satisfactory  itself  to  the  working  pharmacist.  The  U.S.P. 
process  is  long  and  tedious,  involves  the  use  of  an  expensive  and 
highly  inflammable  solvent  and  calls  for  a  high  degree  of  skill  and 
care  to  turn  out  a  really  creditable  product.  Any  one  who  has 
ever  tried  the  difficult  task  of  pouring  off  the  ethereal  layer  from 
the  aqueous  one  and  separating  all  the  ether  from  the  finished  tinc- 
ture will  appreciate  the  allusion  to  care  and  skill.  Then  there  is  the 
ever-present  danger  of  fire  from  the  inflammability  of  the  ether,  a 
danger  not  imaginary,  as  frequent  accounts  of  drug-store  fires  and 
explosions  from  this  cause  will  show,  and  the  item  of  the  cost  of  the 
ether,  even  if  much  of  it  is  saved  and  worked  up  into  liniments  as 
is  done  in  many  cases.  For  these  reasons  and  others  with  which  I 
will  not  weary  you,  there  has  long  been  a  desire  on  the  part  of 
pharmacists  for  a  practical  process  for  making  the  deodorized  tinc- 
ture of  opium  that  will  stand  the  test  of  laboratory  manipulation. 
Various  processes  for  the  tincture  and  substitutes  for  ether  have  been 
suggested ;  of  these,  probably  the  most  practical  is  the  employment 
of  a  "  denarcotized  "  opium  from  which  the  undesirable  principles 
have  been  removed  before  its  use  in  making  the  tincture.  However, 
the  effective  and  economically  practical  denarcotization  of  opium  is 
rather  beyond  the  resources  of  the  working  pharmacist  on  a  small 
scale,  and  besides  there  is  good  ground  for  dissatisfaction  with  the 
product  made  from  this  article.  What  the  worker  wants  is  a  pro- 
cess cheap  and  effective  and  one  that  wTill  put  him  on  an  equality 
with  the  large  manufacturer,  that  is,  unless  the  making  of  galenical 
preparations  is  to  become  a  lost  art  in  pharmacy. 
Probably  because  of  the  unsatisfactory  processes  for  its  manufac- 
ture and  its  greater  cost,  the  deodorized  tincture  of  opium,  although 
an  ideal  preparation  of  the  drug  from  a  therapeutic  standpoint,  has 
never  gained  the  general  use  that  its  merits  would  deserve. 
Laudanum,  a  cheaper  and  easier  made  preparation,  still  holds  full 
sway, and  is  used  in  pints  where  the  other  is  used  in  drachms!  We 
