256  Tincture  of  Ginger  U.  S.  P.  {Am^i;^m' 
Water-soluble    0.24 
Per  cent,  of  total  solids  soluble  in  alcohol   95 
Per  cent,  of  total  solids  soluble  in  water   18 
In  addition  to  this  the  authors  also  examined  4  tinctures  of 
ginger,  which  they  consider  to  be  strictly  U.  S.  P.,  and  the  following 
are  part  of  the  results  which  they  obtained: 
Ale.  by  Vol. 
91.64 
88.84 
88.04 
78.92 
Total  Solids. 
I.23 
I.26 
1-59 
1.48 
Ale.  Soluble, 
Per  Cent. 
I.09 
1. 16 
1.38 
1.47 
Water  Sol. 
O.IO 
0.19 
0.27 
0.24 
Per  Cent,  of  Solids 
Sol.  in 
Ale. 
94 
86 
99 
Here  are  4  tinctures  of  ginger,  one  of  which  was  prepared  by 
the  authors  themselves,  which  yields  a  per  cent,  of  solids  soluble 
in  water,  greater  than  15,  and  are  considered  strictly  U.  S.  P.  Of 
course  they  were  examining  these  tinctures  according  to  the  U.  S.  P. 
VIII,  where  no  standards  were  given  for  tinctures  of  ginger,  but 
there  is  no  reason  to  presume  that  tincture  of  ginger,  made  at  that 
time,  using  the  same  quantity  of  Jamaica  ginger  and  the  same  alco- 
holic menstruum,  should  not  yield  results  similar  to  those  of  the 
tinctures  prepared  at  this  time  by  the  U.  S.  P.  IX  method. 
Harrison  and  Sullivan,  Association  of  Official  Agriculture  Chem- 
ists, give  the  results  of  analysis  of  about  25  tinctures  of  ginger, 
many  of  which  they  prepared  themselves,  and  from  their  results 
concluded  that  tincture  of  ginger  U.  S.  P.  should  comply  with  the 
following  requirements.  Specific  gravity  at  25 0  C.  not  above  0.827. 
Alcohol  by  volume  not  less  than  90  per  cent.  Non-volatile  matter 
from  1.25  to  1.75  per  cent.  They  did  not  even  find  it  necessary  to 
determine  the  water-soluble  portion  of  the  solids  and  accordingly 
have  given  no  requirements  in  the  standards  which  they  propose. 
A  sample  of  tincture  of  ginger  was  prepared  in  our  laboratory 
from  Jamaica  ginger,  which  met  the  botanical  description  of  the 
U.  S.  P.  and  gave  the  following  results  when  examined  chemically: 
Alcohol-soluble    6.45  per  cent.  U.  S.  P.  plus  4  per  cent. 
Non-volatile,  ether-sol.  . .  4-47  per  cent.  U.  S.  P.  plus  2  per  cent. 
Water-soluble    10      per  cent.  U.  S.  P.  plus  8  per  cent. 
Ash    37    per  cent.  U.  S.  P.  plus  8  per  cent. 
