302 
PHARMACY  OF  THE  CINCHONAS. 
Of  course  the  first  requisite  to  any  preparation  of  Cinchona  is 
that  it  be  made  from  good  bark,  and  therefore  some  reliable  • 
process  of  testing  must  belong  to  and  preside  over  all  the  suc- 
cessful pharmacy,  as  well  as  the  successful  administration  of  the 
drug  in  its  various  forms.  In  considering  its  pharmaceutical 
management,  therefore,  good  Cinchonas,  known  to  be  not  below 
the  low  officinal  limit,  should  always  be  understood. 
The  officinal  preparations  of  Cinchona  are  all  well  known,  and 
of  undoubted  efficacy  when  made  from  standard  materials,  and  yet 
it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  some  of  the  more  recent  ones  may 
be  usefully  improved,  if  not  others  usefully  added.  The  officinal 
fluid  extract  is  a  thick,  muddy-looking,  unsightly,  inconvenient 
preparation,  almost  unmanageable  in  making  and  dispensing, 
when  accurately  made  from  good  Cinchona,  and  it  is  mainly  with 
the  object  of  improving  this  preparation  that  this  paper  has  been 
undertaken.  Three  prominent  points  in  its  formula  are  consid- 
ered of  doubtful  utility,  if  not  objectionable,  and  it  has  been 
thought  well  worth  while  to  investigate  the  subject.  The  first 
point  of  objection  is  to  the  use  of  Diluted  Alcohol  as  a  menstru- 
um, and  the  excessive  quantity  of  menstruum  used.  The  second 
point  is  the  use  of  sugar  as  a  preservative  ;  and  the  third,  which 
flows  as  a  necessity  from  the  first  two,  is  the  making  a  minim  of 
the  finished  product  represent  half  a  grain  rather  than  a  grain  of 
the  Cinchona  used. 
Why  Diluted  Alcohol  is  universally  used  in  all  the  preparations 
of  Cinchona  (except  the  extract,  wherein  alcohol  is  followed  with 
water)  does  not  appear  in  the  writer's  research  into  the  chemis- 
try and  pharmacy  of  the  subject.  It  undoubtedly  exhausts  the 
Cinchona  with  ease  and  celerity,  the  menstruum  soon  coming 
through  with  comparatively  little  color  and  bitterness,  and  this 
circumstance  seems  to  have  been  universally  accepted  as.  evidence 
that  it  is  the  proper  menstruum.  Authorities  seem  to  have  fol- 
lowed each  other  in  adopting  it  with  such  unanimity  that  to  pro- 
pose a  change  at  this  late  day  in  the  management  of  a  drug  so 
well  known  and  studied  involves  a  responsibitity  not  to  be  lightly 
assumed.  This  point  has  therefore  been  made  the  subject  of 
careful  observation  and  experiment. 
