THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
JANUARY,  1883, 
COMPLETE  EXHAUSTION  OF  NUX  VOMICA. 
By  R.  Rothfr. 
Most  persons  are  possessed  of  a  peculiar  and  contradictory  trait 
which  causes  them  to  abhor  medicines  in  general,  yet  also  renders 
them  desirous  of  taking  it  as  strong  as  possible.  This  disposition  is 
shown  in  the  passion  for  dark-colored  liquids,  with  other  striking  qua- 
lities. When  in  domestic  practice,  for  instance,  a  decoction  is  prepared, 
its  general  goodness  is  judged  by  the  degree  of  its  predominant  features, 
as  color,  flavor,  odor,  etc.  The  endeavor  is  always  directed  towards 
the  production  of  an  extract  of  the  greatest  attainable  strength.  The 
idea  of  exhausting  the  raw  material  rarely  occurs ;  the  prime  object  is 
almost  invariably  a  saturated  preparation,  regardless  of  the  residue. 
This  character  was  very  conspicuous  in  the  early  stages  of  pharmacy ; 
its  generally  crude  and  unexact  methods  sought  only  for  a  gross  effect, 
not  a  definite  result.  These  processes,  although  in  the  main  inaccu- 
rate, were,  however,  at  the  base  of  a  system  which  when  developed 
might  have  assumed  grand  proportions,  since  the  principle  of  a  satu-  i 
ration,  once  fully  recognized,  would  lead  to  the  highest  order  of  exact- 
ness. The  prevailing  tendency,  however,  took  another  direction,  and, 
resting  itself  on  the  original  raw  material  as  a  starting  point,  culmi- 
nated in  a  system  of  simple  and  definite  yet  arbitrary  proportions, 
implying  the  complete  exhaustion  of  the  active  agent.  But  pharmacy 
still  retains  a  few  lingering  rudiments  of  its  primitive  character,  of 
which  wine  of  colchicum,  tincture  of  capsicum,  tincture  of  cantha- 
rides  and  tincture  of  nux  vomica  may  be  cited  as  examples^  In  all  of 
these  the  rule  of  definite  numerical  proportion  of  course  prevails,  but, 
avowedly  or  not,  the  fact  is  granted  that  saturation  is  the  result  to  be 
attained.  At  the  present  day  this  implication  is  lost  sight  of,  and, 
because  the  residue  in  all  such  cases  still  remains  charged  with  activity, 
these  formulas  are  considered  to  be  defective.    Therefore,  instead  of 
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