196 
ON  LIQUOR  MAGNESIA  CITRATIS. 
alkaloids  of  opium,  and,  consequently,  better  deserving  the 
officinal  title,  but  which,  for  distinction,  I  will  designate  Puri- 
fied Tincture  of  Opium,  may  be  made  as  follows: — 
The  first  step  of  the  process  being  the  preparation  of 
deodorized  opium,  which  might  prove  a  substitute  for  the  ex- 
pensive article  known  as  "  denarcotized  opium."' 
Deodorized  Opium. 
Take  of  opium,  in  moderately  fine  powder,  troyounces ; 
Benzine,  sp.  gr.  *700  to  '730,  a  pint ;  macerate  the  opium  with 
half  a  pint  of  benzine  for  twelve  hours  ;  separate  the  benzine 
by  decantation,  and  repeat  the  operation  again  with  the  same 
quantity  of  benzine ;  then  pour  it  on  a  paper  filter,  and,  when 
the  liquid  has  ceased  to  pass,  dry  it  by  means  of  a  gentle  heat. 
Purified  Tincture  of  Opium. 
Take  of  deodorized  opium,  the  product  from  2J  troyounces 
of  powdered  opium ;  alcohol,  water,  each  a  pint ;  proceed  as 
directed  for  preparing  tincture  of  opium,  U.  S.  P. 
I  suggest  these  new  preparations  with  some  hesitancy,  and 
would  not  be  understood  as  recommending  untried  substitutes 
for  articles  of  ascertained  value. 
It  is  with  the  desire  to  further  elucidate  the  therapeutics  of 
this  valuable  drug  that  I  advance  these  ideas,  hoping,  at  some 
future  time,  to  be  able  to  add  some  experimental  results  to 
these  theoretical  speculations. 
Chicago,  Illinois,  March,  1867. 
ON  LIQUOR  MAGNESLE  CITRATIS. 
By  Charles  B.  Allaire. 
(An  Inaugural  Essay,  presented  to  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy.) 
This  favorite  remedy  has  been  before  the  public  for  the  last 
nineteen  years,  and  at  the  present  day  there  seems  to  be  no 
greater  uniformity  in  its  preparation  than  formerly.  The  pro- 
cesses given  in  the  Pharmacopoeias  of  1850  and  1860  are 
adopted  by  no  one,  as  the  inconvenience  and  impracticability 
of  preparing  it  extemporaneously  is  apparent.  Commercial 
carbonate  of  magnesia,  or  magnesia  alba,  is  used  by  some  in 
