THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
JANUARY,  1899. 
y   . 
ON  ACETIC  ACID  AS  A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  ETHYL  ALCO- 
HOL IN  EXTRACTING  THE  ACTIVE  PRINCI- 
PLES OF  SOME  OFFICINAL  DRUGS. 
By  Edward  R..  Souibb,  M.D.,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
(first  paper.) 
In  the  proposed  substitution  of  acetic  acid  for  alcohol  as  a  men- 
struum for  extracting  and  a  vehicle  for  preserving  and  administer- 
ing the  active  principles  of  drugs  used  in  medicine,  the  very  first 
question  is  as  to  the  therapeutic  equivalency.  That  is,  if  the  pres- 
ence of  the  necessary  amount  of  acetic  acid  in  fluid  extracts,  etc., 
can  be  shown  to  be  therapeutically  objectionable,  or  more  objec- 
tionable'than  the  necessary  amount  of  alcohol,  then  it  is  not  proper 
to  make  the  substitutions. 
But  acetic  acid  has  long  been  used  for  the  extraction  of  canthar- 
ides,  colchicum,  ipecacuanha,  opium,  squill,  etc.,  without  develop- 
ing any  known  therapeutical  objections,  and  in  a  limited  experience 
in  the  extraction  of  spices,  and  of  some  drugs  for  veterinary  use,  it 
gives  extracts  practically  identical  with  those  from  alcohol.  The 
acid  has  a  universally  accepted  food  value,  not  only  as  a  hydro- 
carbon, but  as  a  mild  acidulous  aid  in  the  primary  processes  of 
digestion,  but  in  the  small  quantities  that  would  be  present  in  the 
doses  of  fluid  extracts,  it  would  be  practically  inert,  or  at  least  as 
nearly  inert  as  the  alcohol  which  it  would  replace. 
Its  properties  and  value  as  an  antiseptic,  deturgent  and  preserva- 
tive are  well  known,  but  whether  it  would  be  present  in  sufficient 
(1) 
