Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
November,  1898.  / 
Fluid  Ace  tracts. 
543 
3d  edition,  1889. 
4th  edition,  1892. 
II.    The  Tannins — a  Monograph.  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co. 
Vol.  I,  1892. 
Vol.  II,  1894. 
III.    Text-book  of  Pharmaceutical  and  Medical  Chemistry  {jointly  with 
S.  P.  Sad  tier). 
1st  edition,  1895.   J.  B.  Lippincott  Co. 
2d  edition  in  two  volumes,  1898.  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co. 
FLUID  ACETRACTS. 
By  Joseph  P.  Remington. 
Research  Committee  K.,  Pharmacopoeia  Revision. 
The  title  of  this  paper,  "  Fluid  Acetracts,"  will  doubtless  strike 
the  pharmaceutical  reader  as  an  innovation  and  inasmuch  as  innova- 
tions in  pharmacy  are  resented  by  many,  it  is  only  proper  to  en- 
deavor to  forestall  unfavorable  criticism  by  giving  reasons  for 
selecting  a  title.  To  those  who  have  followed  the  efforts  which  have 
been  made  within  the  last  few  years  to  call  attention  to  the  uses  of 
acetic  acid  as  a  menstruum  and  solvent  for  organic  substances,  there 
will  be  no  occasion  to  explain  the  meaning  of  the  word  acetract.  We 
have  had  acetic  extracts  in  the  past,  and  by  this  term  is  meant  a 
solid  extract  made  from  a  drug  by  the  use  of  acetic  acid ;  the  word 
acetract  may  simply  be  regarded  as  a  contraction  of  the  words 
acetic  extract.  Inasmuch  as  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia  of 
1890  recognizes  mainly  alcohol  and  water  as  menstrua,  it  would  be 
clearly  improper  to  call  preparations  made  with  acetic  acid,  extracts 
and  fluid  extracts;  for  the  sake,  then,  of  avoiding  confusion  in 
nomenclature  it  has  been  deemed  best  to  use  acetract  and  fluid  ace- 
tract to  mean  solid  and  liquid  preparations  of  organic  drugs  made 
with  acetic  acid  as  a  menstruum. 
Since  writing  the  paper  on  this  subject  (which  will  be  found  in 
the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  for  March,  1897),  the  writer 
has  continued  experiments  upon  a  number  of  drugs  and  has  had  the 
opportunity  of  observing  the  effect  of  age  upon  these  preparations. 
Since  this  paper  (March,  1897)  was  written,  the  effort  has  been  made 
to  use  as  weak  an  acetic  acid  as  possible  and,  as  was  anticipated, 
