438  Tinctures  from  Fluid  Extracts.  {AmsiXi89*arm' 
IS  IT  POSSIBLE  TO  PRODUCE   FLUID  EXTRACTS  OF 
SUCH  STRENGTH  THAT  THEY  CAN  BE  DILU- 
TED  WITH   PROPER   MENSTRUA  TO 
STANDARD  TINCTURES?1 
By  Joseph  W.  England,  Ph.G. 
Chief  Druggist  of  the  Philadelphia  Hospital. 
Examination  of  this  query  shows  that  its  affirmative  answer 
hinges  upon  the  possibility  of  making  fluid  extracts  which,  properly 
diluted,  yield  products  identical  in  the  proportion  and  kinds  of 
proximate  principles  found  in  tinctures  made  by  direct  exhaustion 
of  the  drug. 
Can  such  fluid  extracts  be  made  ? 
If  they  can  be,  there  is  no  need  of  making  drug-tinctures,  or 
tinctures  from  drugs  ;  all  that  is  necessary  is  a  line  of  fluid  extracts, 
and  proper  dilution,  as  wanted.  If  they  cannot  be  made,  then  the 
practice  should  be  condemned.  The  issue  is  a  plain  one ;  and  the 
necessity  of  an  accurate  determination  of  the  question  demands 
the  serious  consideration  of  every  thoughtful  pharmacist. 
If  such  fluid  extracts  can  be  made,  it  is  obvious  that  certain  con- 
ditions must  exist.    These  are  : 
(1)  That  the  physical  conditions  under  which  the  drug  is 
exhausted,  shall  be  the  same  in  making  the  fluid  extract  as  in  mak- 
ing the  drug-tincture. 
(2)  That  the  menstruum  employed  in  making  the  fluid  extract 
and  the  drug-tincture  shall  be  identical. 
(3)  That  in  the  making  of  the  fluid  extract  the  drug  shall  be 
exhausted  of  -all  the  proximate  principles  present  in  the  drug-tinc- 
ture, and  in  as  great  a  relative  proportion. 
(4)  That  the  fluid  extract  shall  not  be  altered  in  composition  by 
heat,  from  concentration  of  percolate. 
(5)  That  the  fluid  extract  shall  not  precipitate  proximate  prin- 
ciples on  storing,  and  have  these  removed  before  being  used. 
It  is  not  a  difficult  matter  to  have  the  physical  conditions  of  drug- 
exhaustion  the  same  in  making  a  fluid  extract  as  in  making  a  drug- 
tincture.  If,  however,  there  is  a  change  or  difference  of  menstruum, 
it  is  manifest  there  must  be  a  change  or  difference  in  the  proximate 
principles  dissolved  ;  but  this  will  be  referred  to  later. 
1  Read  at  the  meeting  of  the  Georgia  Pharm.  Assoc. 
