AmMarr;8P76arm:}  Tinctura  Capsici.  103 
been  recommended  to  use  spiritus  camphorae  and  tinct.  opii  in  such 
quantities  as  to  equal  the  powdered  opium  and  camphor,  as  directed 
by  the  pharmacopoeia;  and  it  has  also  been  proposed  to  make  some 
tinctures,  syrups  and  infusions  from  fluid  extracts.  Some  of  the 
changes  recommended  are  good,  and  it  might  be  well  for  the  various 
committees  on  the  preliminary  revision  of  the  pharmacopoeia  to  pay 
attention  to  this  matter  and  experiment  with  the  new  formulas  recom- 
mended, and,  if  they  prove  better  than  those  now  in  use,  to  advise  a 
change,  otherwise  let  them  pass  by. 
Up  to  the  present  time,  the  writer  has  not  noticed  in  any  of  the 
pharmaceutical  journals  a  recommendation  to  change  the  menstruum 
used  in  the  making  of  tincture  of  capsicum.  The  present  menstruum 
is  not  only  pharmaceutically  objectionable,  but  is  more  especially  so  in 
a  medicinal  point  of  view.  The  object  that  every  pharmacist  has,  or 
should  have,  in  view,  is  to  put  forth  preparations  that  fully  represent 
the  active  constituents  of  the  drug.  To  arrive  at  a  definite  conclusion 
as  to  what  should  be  the  best  menstruum  and  best  process  of  prepara- 
tion, requires  a  large  amount  of  labor  and  experimenting,  and  involves 
also  a  loss  pecuniarily. 
My  object  here  is  to  advise  a  change  in  the  menstruum,  used  in  mak- 
ing tincture  of  capsicum,  from  diluted  alcohol  to  alcohol.  I  have  two 
reasons  for  doing  so:  1st,  that  diluted  alcohol  does  not  thoroughly 
exhaust  the  drug, — the  authenticity  of  which  can  be  proven  by  treat- 
ing the  dregs  left  after  making  the  tincture,  as  now  prescribed  by  the 
pharmacopaeia,  with  alcohol,  which  will  dissolve  the  hot  and  stimulating 
principle  of  the  drug  quite  perceptibly  ;  2d,  that  the  preparation,  when 
made  of  diluted  alcohol,  as  now  directed,  is  rather  unsightly,  and  does 
not  present  that  elegant  appearance  as  when  made  with  alcohol  ;  and 
in  these  days  of  pharmaceutical  elegance,  it  is  requisite  to  make  hand- 
some pharmaceutical  preparations,  so  long  as  it  can  be  done  without 
sacrificing  the  medicinal  qualities  of  the  drug.  It  is  just  as  necessary 
to  make  tincture  of  capsicum  with  alcohol  as  tincture  of  ginger.  I 
doubt  whether  there  is  a  pharmacist  to  be  found  that  would  think  of 
using  diluted  alcohol  for  the  latter  ;  and  since  the  active  consti- 
tuents of  both  ginger  and  capsicum  are  oleo-resins,  and,  as  they  are 
insoluble  in  water,  we  should  object  to  the  menstruum  of  the  pharma- 
copoeia for  tincture  of  capsicum,  and  should  use  only  alcohol,  which 
dissolves  the  oleo-resin  quite  freely.    I  would  therefore  submit  the 
