Amb^Ti87h9arm  }     Strength  of  Wines  and  Tinctures.  485 
COMPARATIVE    STRENGTH    OF   THE  OFFICINAL 
WINES  AND  TINCTURES. 
/  By  George  Morris  Eckels,  Ph.  G. 
From  an  Inaugural  Essay. 
I  undertook  this  subject  at  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  F.  Marion  Murray. 
The  intention  was  to  find  the  amount  of  soluble  matter  extracted  from 
the  drugs  by  the  menstruum  of  the  various  wines  and  tinctures,  offi- 
cinal in  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia.  In  making  these  preparations  I  fol- 
lowed strictly  the  officinal  formulae,  except  in  those  where  an  additional 
substance  is  used  in  connection  with  the  base  of  the  preparation  ;  as  for 
example,  in  the  tincture  of  aloes,  where  licorice  is  used  in  addition  to 
the  powdered  aloes.  As  only  the  amount  of  aloes  taken  up  by  the 
menstruum  was  sought,  no  licorice  was  used  in  the  preparation.  So  in 
all  other  preparations,  everything  was  omitted  except  the  drug  which 
is  the  base  of  the  preparation. 
To  make  a  better  comparison  of  the  strength  of  a  corresponding 
wine  and  tincture,  they  were  made  from  the  same  amount  of  drug  to  a 
like  measure,  which  in  all  experiments  was  118*12  cc.  (4  fluidounces). 
The  sherry  wine  was  of  20  per  cent,  alcoholic  strength. 
In  all  preparations  requiring  the  drug  to  be  percolated,  a  grooved  cork 
was  placed  loosely  in  the  neck  of  the  funnel  and  wrapped  with  patent 
lint.  After  having  packed  the  moistened  drug,  the  exposed  surface  was 
•covered  with  a  disc  of  filtering  paper. 
In  those  preparations  made  by  maceration,  well  stopped  bottles  were 
tised  and  the  mixture  frequently  agitated  during  the  time  required  for 
the  operation. 
All  evaporations  were  made  by  means  of  a  water-bath,  the  temper- 
ature being  kept  at  or  below  I20°F.,  so  that  none  of  the  volatile 
principles  possessed  by  any  drug  might  be  driven  off.  The  top  of  the 
water-bath  was  covered  so  that  no  dust  or  foreign  matter  could  get  in 
to  interfere  with  the  accuracy  of  obtaining  a  pure  extract,  and  the  bulb 
of  a  thermometer  was  kept  immersed  in  the  water  in  order  to  ascertain 
the  temperature  at  any  time. 
In  weighing  the  extracts,  the  evaporating  dish,  after  removal  from 
the  water- bath,  was  perfectly  dried  and  weighed  with  the  extract.  After 
securing  the  extract,  the  evaporating  dish  was  well  washed,  dried  and 
weighed  ;  on  deducting  its  weight  from  the  combined  weight  of  evaporat- 
