1 54  Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  { AmkS;-,  lm*m: 
Oil  of  origanum,  .  .  i  f  3 
Oil  of  caraway,  2  f  3 
Alcohol,   .  12  f  3 
Mix,  macerate  with  occasional  agitation  7  days,  and  filter. 
Mr.  Robt.  England  gives  the  following  formula,  furnished  by  the  late  Dr.. 
Jas.  Bond,  who  originally  introduced  it : 
R 
Stronger  water  of  ammonia, 
Olive  oil, 
aa  3ij 
Tincture  of  opium,   g  ij 
Oil  of  cinnamon,  \  _, 
Oil  of  sassafras,    i   aa      *  r 
From  these  formulas  it  will  be  seen  that  they  must  not  be  confounded  as 
they  are  so  entirely  different :  one  intended  for  internal  use,  and  the  others  for 
liniments  and  quite  active. 
Mr.  A.  B.  Taylor  read  a  paper  on  Tincture  of  Nux  Vomica.  Mr.  Mclutyre 
said  that  the  long  and  very  satisfactory  use  of  the  tincture  as  made  by  apothe- 
caries from  nux  vomica,  by  the  old  method,  showed  that  this  yields  trust- 
worthy results. 
Prof.  Remington  said  that  this  subject  was  brought  before  the  meeting 
probably  in  consequence  of  the  late  suit  held  in  New  Jersey  against  a  druggist 
of  Atlantic  City,  he  having  sold  tincture  of  nux  vomica  containing  an  average 
amount  of  strychnos  alkaloids,  but  not  the  requisite  amount  of  extractive. 
Suits  had  been  instituted,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Great  Britain,  against 
druggists  for  selling  spurious  preparations,  the  instances  showing  ignorance 
on  the  part  of  those  bringing  suit,  in  the  selection  as  test  cases  of  nux  vomica 
merely  for  a  deficiency  of  extractive  matter,  and  in  Great  Britain  of  lac  sulphur 
which  is  often  required  to  mix  readily  with  water,  and  then  contains  calcium 
sulphate,  this  impure  product  being  sometimes  preferred  for  the  reason  stated. 
Nux  vomica  would  yield  different  amounts  of  extract  with  alcohol  differing  in 
strength,  a  larger  percentage  of  extractive  being  dissolved  by  a  more  aqueous 
menstruum  ;  and  it  had  even  been  testified  in  the  ca'se  alluded  to,  that  the 
extractive  matter  of  nux  vomica  could  be  taken  up  without  dissolving  any 
alkaloid.  The  amount  of  extractive  was  therefore  no  criterion  of  the  strength 
of  the  tincture,  and  the  directions  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  had  merely  been 
intended  as  a  guide  for  the  pharmacist  indicating  the  exhaustion  of  the  drug, 
which,  with  alcohol  of  the  strength  directed,  would  yield  about  ten  per  cent, 
of  extract. 
Professor  Maisch  stated  that  shortly  after  the  publication  of  the  Pharma- 
copoeia of  1880  he  had  directed  attention  to  the  variable  quality  of  extract  of 
nux  vomica  due  to  difference  in  the  alcoholic  strength  of  the  menstruum,  and 
that  therefore  the  tincture  should  never  be  prepared  from  the  extract,  unless 
the  latter  had  been  made  in  strict  conformity  with  the  Pharmacopoeia.  An 
aqueous  extract  of  nux  vomica  contained  a  relatively  large  amount  of 
extractive,  and  small  amount  of  alkaloids,  so  that  its  dose  was  four  times  that 
of  the  alcoholic  extract.  Prof.  Maisch  also  called  attention  to  a  published 
account  of  the  testimony  given  in  the  suit,  in  which  it  was  reported^that  the 
only  medicinal  activity  of  the  drug  resides  in  the  alkaloids,  and  that  the 
