Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
November,  19 19.  > 
Iodine  Tinctures. 
729 
The  manufacturers  do  not  seem  to  have  published,  and  presum- 
ably do  not  possess,  any  comparative  data  on  the  degree  of  irritation 
produced  by  their  preparations,  as  compared  with  the  official  tinc- 
ture of  iodine  after  this  has  been  diluted  so  as  to  reduce  its  iodine 
content  to  that  of  the  proprietary  preparations.  It  was  therefore 
decided  to  determine  this  point  by  applying  various  iodine  prepara- 
tions of  an  equal  iodine  content  to  the  skin  and  also  by  extending 
the  experiments  in  other  directions.  In  these  experiments  two 
widely  advertised  proprietary  preparations — Burnham's  Soluble 
Iodine2  and  Sharpe  and  Dohme's  Surgodine3 — were  included. 
Since  these,  however,  are  more  or  less  secret  in  composition,  I 
have  devised  a  non-secret  preparation  of  the  same  character  by  the 
use  of  hydrogen  iodide  (hydriodic  acid).  The  details  of  this  prep- 
aration will  be  published  in  a  pharmaceutical  journal.  Before  use, 
each  of  these  preparations  was  reduced  by  the  addition  of  alcohol 
to  a  free  content  of  2.2  per  cent.  (2.2  Gm.  in  100  Cc). 
Composition  of  Iodine  Preparations  Used.4 
Nature  of  Preparation. 
Free  Iodine. 
Percentage  of 
Combined  Iodine 
(Including  HI). 
Acidity  as 
of  HI. 
2.2 
0.4 
0.2 
U.  S.  P.  tincture  (KI)  
2.2 
1.6 
0.07 
2.2 
0.7 
0.6 
Burnham's  Soluble  Iodine  
2.2 
2.7 
1.4 
2.2 
1.2 
0.8 
The  accompanying  table  shows  the  composition  of  the  solutions 
used,  the  total  iodine  being  the  same,  the  principal  difference  being 
in  the  acidity,  which  ranges  from  a  minimum  of  0.07  per  cent,  in 
the  U.  S.  P.  tincture  (containing  potassium  iodide)  to  a  maximum 
2  Examination  in  the  A.  M.  A.  Chemical  Laboratory  indicated  Burnham's 
Soluble  Iodine  to  be  a  solution  of  iodine  in  alcohol  made  miscible  with  water 
by  the  presence  of  some  iodide  and  containing  approximately  3  Gm.  of  free 
iodine  and  2  Gm.  of  combined  iodine  in  approximately  100  Cc.  (/.  A.  M.  A., 
50:  1055  (March  28),  1908). 
3  The  A.  M.  A.  Chemical  Laboratory  reported  that  Surgodine  was  an 
alcoholic  liquid  containing  2.51  Gm.  of  free  iodine  and  1.78  Gm.  of  combined 
iodine,  probably  present  chiefly  as  hydrogen  iodide,  in  100  Cc.  (/.  A.  M.  A., 
70:  257  (Jan.  26)  1918). 
4  The  numbers  represent  grams  per  hundred  Cc.  of  preparation.  Before 
use,  each  preparation  was  reduced  with  alcohol  to  a  content  of  2.2  per  cent, 
of  free  iodine. 
