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SELECTED ARTICLES. 
(0.840,) and, after the proper digestion, a brilliant green tinc- 
ture will result, as perfect as it is possible to procure it. The 
strength of this tincture, compared with that produced by the 
process of the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, will be, so far as ratio 
is concerned, as one to three, and hence it might be given in 
three times the quantity for a dose. But as there is every 
reason to believe that its strength is incommensurate with this 
ratio, it might be prudent to begin with the same doses as 
have been always employed. 
In this case the leaves will be covered by the alcohol; but 
a month's digestion in a warm place will be required, with 
frequent agitation. 
The defects of the tincture of digitalis, made according to 
the British Pharmacopoeias, have been fully appreciated in 
other countries, and we find that efforts have been made to 
remedy them. The ethereal tincture of the Codex Franc, ais, 
(both 1816 and 1834,) as well as of some other continental 
Pharmacopoeias, is, perhaps, intended to obviate an inefficiency 
of the British formula?, but the solvent power of ether 
on the active ingredient is rendered very doubtful by the 
contradictory statements which have been made on this 
subject. 
The Dresden Pharmacopoeia contains a formula, the object 
of which seems to be the attainment of the same advantages 
as are contemplated by mine. The recently expressed juice 
of foxglove is to be mixed with an equal weight of spirit of 
wine, and the mixture filtered. But the foregoing pages con- 
tain my reasons for believing it doubtful that the juice pos- 
sesses all the qualities of the leaves; and that if it did, the 
feeble alcohol employed would not be competent to hold them 
dissolved. A formula for the preparation of tinctures of this 
kind has been given in the Bulletin des Travaux, de la So- 
ciete de Pharmacie, for 1830. 
In conclusion, I am compelled to believe that our tincture 
of digitalis is far from being the best preparation of which the 
plant is susceptible, and I suggest to practitioners a trial of 
the process given in this communication. This trial should 
