2 
Substitute  for  Ethyl  Alcohol. 
[Am.  Jour;  Pharm. 
X    January,  1899. 
proportion  to  preserve  such  preparations  from  change  during  a  long 
time  has  not  yet  been  determined.  The  oldest  set  of  samples, 
made  with  10  per  cent,  acid,  are  now  about  two  years  old  and 
apparently  unchanged.  Fluid  extract  of  ergot,  by  the  officinal  pro- 
cess, is  preserved  by  acetic  acid  in  small  proportion,  as  first  pro- 
posed and  used  by  Prof.  Wm.  Procter,  Jr.,  in  1857,  anc^  m  tnat  case 
an  alcoholic  preparation  very  liable  to  change  has  been  made  per- 
manent. 
Fluid  extracts  made  with  acetic  acid  menstrua  are  much  more 
loaded  with  inert  extractive  matter  than  when  made  with  alcohol; 
and  this  is  a  disadvantage,  but  hardly  hurtful,  nor  more  than  an  in- 
convenience occasionally. 
In  compounding  prescriptions  the  acetic  acid  menstruum  has  a 
slight  general  advantage  over  alcohol  in  the  amount  of  precipita- 
tion on  dilution  and  on  mixing,  and  in  the  character  of  the  precipi- 
tates, these  being  more  soluble,  and  containing  less  resin  and  fat 
and  probably  less  of  the  active  principle.  In  administration  there 
are  similar  slight  advantages  over  alcohol  in  that  the  dilutions 
with  water  at  the  moment  of  taking  the  doses  are  less  muddy 
and  unsightly,  whilst  the  acidulous  taste  is  less  disagreeable. 
From  these  considerations  and  from  all  that  is  as  yet  known,  it  is 
claimed  that  there  are  no  serious  therapeutical  nor  administrative 
objections  to  a  more  extended  and  more  general  trial  of  this  pro- 
posed substitution,  especially  by  the  pharmacopceial  authorities 
through  the  Research  Committees. 
The  chief,  though  possibly  not  the  only  reason  for  a  careful  con- 
sideration of  this  proposed  substitution  is  economy  in  the  use  of 
alcohol  by  the  use  of  a  cheaper  solvent.  The  alcohol  of  the  U.S.P., 
91  per  cent,  by  weight,  costs  about  $2.40  per  gallon  of  6  pounds 
13  -f-  ounces  avoirdupois,  or,  say,  35  -f-  cents  per  avoirdupois  pound 
— or,  say,  77  +  cents  per  1,000  grammes. 
The  acetic  acid  of  the  U.S.P.,  36  per  cent.,  costs  about  10  cents 
per  pound,  or  22  cents  per  1,000  grammes.  When  diluted  to  a 
strength  of  10  per  cent.,  which  is  the  strength  most  frequently  re- 
quired as  a  menstruum,  the  cost  is  less  than  3  cents  per  pound,  as 
against  18  cents  per  pound  for  the  Diluted  Alcohol  of  the  U.S.P., 
with  which  this  10  percent,  acid  corresponds — the  alcohol  menstrua 
costing  six  times  as  much  as  the  acid  menstrua  to  accomplish  the 
same  extraction. 
