324     PHARMACOPOEIA  STRENGTH  OF  BRANDY  AND  WHISKEY. 
tell  their  customers,  if  they  choose,  that  the  recipe"  has  been 
published,  and  is  not  the  property  of  the  pretended  owners. 
This  I  think  will  have  a  tendency,  as  it  were,  to  "  cut  the 
corners  "  of  quackery,  which  I  believe  is  a  legitimate  object  of 
this  Association. 
I  have  put  up  this  recipe  a  large  number  of  times,  and  am 
informed  by  one  of  my  customers  that  it  has  proved  an  effectual 
remedy  in  his  case. 
It  is  as  follows  : — 
R. 
Potassii  bromidi,  ....  £vi. 
Ammonii  bromidi,  .  .  .  Bii. 
Potassse  bicarb.,  gr.  xv. 
Aquse,  .....  liii. 
Tinct.  Columbse,    ....  ^iss. 
Dose,  a  teaspoonful  three  times  a  day. 
— Proc.  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  1865. 
ON  THE  PHAEMACOPCEIA  STRENGTH  OF  BRANDY  AND 
WHISKEY. 
By  Dr.  W.  H.  Pile.  , 
In  examining  recently  some  California  brandy,  of  Perkins, 
Sterns  &  Co.,  said  to  be  a  very  pure  article,  I  found  its  alcoholic 
strength  to  be  but  44  per  cent,  by  volume  by  a  standard  Tralles' 
instrument.  This  would  be  equivalent  to  twelve  degrees  below 
proof.  Our  national  Pharmacopoeia  gives  the  strength  both  of 
brandy  and  whiskey  as  ranging  between  48  and  56  per  cent,  of 
absolute  alcohol. 
At  first  sight  the  above-mentioned  brandy  would  appear  to  be 
but  4  per  cent,  below  the  inferior  limit  of  strength.  The  ques- 
tion here  arises,  does  the  Pharmacopoeia  mean  in  its  definition  a 
percentage  reckoned  by  volume  or  by  weight  ?  This  is  an  im- 
portant point  to  be  established.  As  the  Pharmacopoeia  is  pre- 
sumed to  be  complete  in  itself,  the  preliminary  remarks  were 
looked  over  to  settle  this  query.  Unfortunately,  nothing  is 
there  found  relating  to  this  subject,  and  we  are  left  to  our  own 
interpretation. 
