Am.  Jour.  Pharru. ) 
November,  1906.  J 
Tincture  of  Nux  Vomica. 
529 
It  has  been  claimed  that  strychnine  is  the  only  principle  of  medi- 
cinal value  in  tincture  of  nux  vomica.  The  writer  is  not  prepared 
to  accept  this  statement.  If  true,  it  means  that  a  solution  of 
strychnine  in  alcohol  and  water  should  yield  all  the  therapeutic 
results  of  a  tincture  made  from  the  drug,  and  yet  we  know  that  the 
tincture,  for  some  reason  or  other,  is  preferred  by  many  physicians, 
in  certain  clinical  conditions,  particularly  where  the  gastro-intestinal 
tract  is  involved.  This  may  be  due,  possibly,  to  the  presence  of 
extractive  matter  which  retards  the  solution  of  the  strychnine  of  the 
extract,  in  part,  or  in  whole,  in  the  stomach,  and  enables  the  strych- 
nine to  exercise  a  local  influence  (by  absorption)  as  it  passes  over 
the  mucous  surfaces  of  the  intestinal  tract.  But,  be  this  as  it  may, 
the  tincture  is  undoubtedly  preferred  to  the  alkaloid  by  many 
physicians,  in  certain  clinical  conditions,  and  there  must  be  a  reason 
for  it. 
Hence,  the  writer  would  suggest  that  tincture  of  nux  vomica  be 
made,  not  from  a  standardized  powdered  extract,  which  must  of 
necessity  yield  a  product  of  more  or  less  doubtful  therapeutic  value, 
but  from  an  assayed  powdered  fat-free  nux  vomica  (No.  20  powder), 
and  then  standardized  to  the  strength  of  the  official  tincture. 
The  official  tinctures  of  opium  and  of  cinchona  are  both  made 
from  assayed  drugs,  and  the  only  reason  probably  that  tincture  of 
nux  vomica  has  not  been,  is  because  it  contains  fat,  which  renders 
the  exhaustion  of  the  drug  difficult.  But,  if  the  fat  be  removed  with 
clean  petroleum  benzin,  and  dried,  this  difficulty  disappears.  The 
benzin-treatment  removes  a  small  quantity  of  strychnine  from  the 
drug,  but  as  the  final  product  is  assayed  and  standardized  to  contain 
a  definite  percentage  of  strychnine,  this  loss  is  of  no  practical  im- 
portance. 
The  last  four  analyses  of  powdered  nux  vomica  (not  fat  free)  we 
have  made  this  year,  ran  in  strychnine  content  as  follows:  1-4,  127, 
I  25,  i-i  per  cent.,  or  an  average  of  1-25  per  cent. 
A  sample  of  the  tincture  made  from  the  assayed  fat-free  drug  and 
standardized  to  contain  o-i  gramme  of  strychnine  in  100  c.c,  is  here 
submitted. 
