EDITORIAL. 
381 
Mercantile  Library. — We  are  gratified  to  acknowledge  the  following 
liberal  invitation  from  the  Mercantile  Library  Company: 
Philadelphia,  June  10$,  1862. 
To  the  Proprietors  of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy. 
Gentlemen, — Enclosed  you  will  receive  with  the  compliments  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  Directors  of  the  Mercantile  Library  Company,  a  ticket  for  the  edi- 
torial corps  connected  with  your  office,  extending  to  the  bearer  of  the  ticket 
the  freedom  of  the  library  rooms  for  the  year  1862,  according  to  a  reso- 
lution passed  by  the  Board. 
J.  II.  Wilson,  John  D.  Watson,  T.  Morris  Perot,  Committee. 
Baltimore,  June  20th,  1862. 
Editor  of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy. 
Sir, — At  a  meeting  of  the  Maryland  College  of  Pharmacy,  held  June 
5th,  the  following  gentlemen  were  elected  delegates  to  the  American 
Pharmaceutical  Association,  which  meets  in  Philadelphia  August  27th  : 
J.  J.  Thomsen,        J.  Faris  Moore,        N.  Hynson  Jennings, 
Jonas  Winter,         J.  Brown  Baxley. 
Respectfully,  J.  Jacob  Smith, 
Secretary  of  the  Maryland  College  of  Pharmacy. 
Alcoholic  Tinctures. — The  following  query  has  been  received  : 
Philadelphia,  June  14tth. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  : 
Sir, — I  have  sought  in  vain  for  some  information  as  to  whether  alco- 
holic tinctures  are  deteriorated  by  the  precipitation  which  takes  place  in 
some  of  them  after  standing  for  several  years.  Will  you  please  inform  me 
through  the  Journal  how  it  is,  and  if  deteriorated,  whether  to  any  serious 
extent  ? 
Respectfully,  Apprentice. 
In  reply  it  may  be  stated  that  many  of  these  preparations  do  deteriorate 
by  age.  The  causes  of  injury  are  various  ;  the  reaction  of  incompatible  in- 
gredients which  find  themselves  in  the  presence  of  each  other  through  the 
agency  of  the  menstruum,  and  gradually  produce  a  new  arrangement  of 
proximate  constituents.  The  action  of  light  as  a  chemical  agency  is  very 
fruitful  of  changes,  and  when  the  aid  of  atmospheric  oxygen  is  added,  we 
have  the  chief  cause  of  the  deterioration  of  tinctures.  It  is  well  known 
that  diluted  alcohol  becomes  acetic  by  exposure  to  the  air,  and  Mr,  Bastick 
(see  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  vol.  xx.  page  47,)  has  remarked  on 
this  tendency  in  tinctures.  Tannin  reacts  on  alkaloids,  on  standing,  in  the 
cinchona  tinctures,  (see  Maisch,  same  work,  May  1861,  page  194), 
and  we  are  all  familiar  with  the  destruction  of  the  tannic  acid  in  astrin- 
gent tinctures  of  the  kino  class,  resulting  in  a  gelatinous  apothemic  precip- 
itate. Messrs.  De  la  Rue  and  Miiller  have  (see  same  work,  July,  1858, 
pages  366  and  442,)  examined  the  deposit  in  tincture  of  rhubarb,  and, 
