448  Tinctures  from  Fluid  Extracts.  {^mi^l\lm!m' 
are  not  relatively  as  strong  as  drug-tinctures.  It  is  clearly 
unreasonable  to  claim  that  the  same  tincture  can  be  had  by  extract- 
dilution  as  by  drug-exhaustion  when  more  or  less  of  the  proximate 
principles  of  the  drug  have  been  removed  from  the  fluid  extract  used 
for  dilution. 
It  is  a  mistaken  belief  to  suppose  that  a  definite  relation  exists 
between  the  tincture  and  the  fluid  extract  in  the  amount  of  drug 
represented;  that,  for  example,  a  100  per  cent,  fluid  extract  repre- 
sents five  times  as  much  drug  as  a  corresponding  twenty  per  cent, 
tincture.  A  due  allowance  must  be  made  for  the  removal,  by  the 
maker,  of  proximate  principles  precipitated  by  the  fluid  extracts  ; 
admitting  the  possibility,  of  the  concentrating  in  fluid  extracts  of  all 
the  soluble  principles  of  drugs.  Hence,  under  the  best  conditions, 
the  making  of  tinctures  by  diluting  fluid  extracts  cannot  yield  pro- 
ducts equally  representative  with  drug-tinctures,  unless  perfect 
exhaustion  of  drugs  be  had  in  making  the  fluid  extracts,  and 
proper  allowances  be  made  for  the  character  and  amount  of  proxi- 
mate principles  separated  from  them ;  and  this  latter,  from  its 
variability,  is  out  of  the  question. 
It  is  in  evidence,  that  fluid  extracts  and  tinctures  have  distinct 
therapeutic  fields ;  that  they  vary  from  each  other  in  the  relative 
proportions,  and  in  some  cases,  of  the  kinds  of  proximate  principles 
represented,  and  that  fluid  extracts  diluted  in  the  usual  way  cannot, 
of  very  necessity,  be  the  same  things,  therapeutically,  as  tinctures 
made  from  superior  qualities  of  drugs. 
The  practice  of  using  fluid  extracts,  assayed  or  not,  for  making  tinc- 
tures should  be  condemned,  as  inimical  to  the  best  interests  of  legiti- 
mate medicine  and  pharmacy.  Only  through  the  use  of  superior 
drugs  and  the  making  of  his  own  tinctures  according  to  official 
methods,  can  the  pharmacist  know  the  quality  of  his  preparations. 
How  can  he  vouch  for  the  quality  of  a  drug  after  it  has  been  made 
up  into  a  preparation  if  somebody  else  has  made  it  ? 
Admitting  that  the  manufacturer's  preparation  has  been  made 
from  the  proper  quality  of  drug  ;  after  the  drug  has  been  exhausted 
of  all  its  soluble  proximate  constituents ;  that  the  official  menstruum 
has  been  used  ;  that  the  employment  of  heat  has  not  affected  last 
portions  of  percolate,  and  that  various  amounts  of  precipitated 
proximate  principles  have  not  occurred  in  the  fluid  extract  and  been 
removed,  what  knowledge  has  the  practical  pharmacist  of  these 
