82 
Tincture  of  Chloride  of  Iron. 
Am,  lour.  Pharm, 
Feb.,  i83o. 
Four  tinctures,  or  i6  per  cent,  of  the  samples,  have  the  right 
strength  one  is  too  strong  ;  four  tinctures,  or  i6  per  cent.,  almost 
reach  the  standard,  and  the  balance,  or  64  per  cent.,  average  from  4*8 
to  25  grains  ;  average  strength,  14*73  grains,  or  67-88  per  cent. 
What  is  the  reason  that,  taken  strictly,  only  16  per  cent,  of  the 
apothecaries  dispense  a  full-strength  preparation  One  may  infer  that 
either,  if  the  solution  was  prepared  by  the  apothecary  himself,  the 
defect  in  the  formula  was  not  detected  and  avoided,  or,  if  purchased, 
the  preparation  was  made  by  some  one  who  was  in  the  same  predica- 
ment, or  who  paid  no  attention  whatever  to  the  Pharmacopoeia.  How- 
ever, since  the  apothecary  stands  between  the  manufacturer  and  the 
prescribing  physician,  he  ought  to  demand  a  preparation  from  the  former 
which,  if  tested  by  the  latter  or  himself,  would  meet  the  requirements 
of  the  PharmacopcEia.  If  this  course  were  strictly  followed,  the  dis- 
pensing of  an  officinal  tincture  would  soon  become  the  rule,  and  not  the 
surprising  exception,  as  at  present.  Another  exceedingly  humiliating 
inference  might  be  drawn  from  the  perusal  of  the  above  table,  namely, 
that  the  average  apothecary  will  freely  dispense  a  preparation  which  he 
may  either  lack  the  ability  to  prepare  as  it  ought  to  be  prepared,  or  he 
may  be  too  indolent  to  do  it,  consequently  will,  without  compunction 
or  considering  the  responsibility  resting  upon  himself,  dispense  a  pre- 
paration prepared  by  others  which  he  is  too  lazy  even  to  test.  He  takes 
for  granted  that  because  he  purchases  from  an  apparently  honest  and 
reliable  wholesale  house,  and  because  the  general  external  characteris- 
tics of  the  tincture  are  present,  therefore  the  preparation  must  necessa- 
rily be  full  strength.  It  isn't  safe  ;  in  fact,  the  strength  of  tincture  of 
iron  cannot  be  judged  by  the  general  external  characteristics. 
The  tincture  of  chloride  of  iron  is  a  preparation  which  figures  fre- 
quently in  physicians'  prescriptions,  and  great  reliance  is  placed  upon  it 
in  some  very  grave  affections  of  the  human  system.  Furthermore,  it 
is  almost  as  frequently  sold  over  the  counter  as  paregoric  or  essence  of 
peppermint.  The  very  least,  therefore,  that  the  apothecary  can  do  is 
to  dispense  a  tincture  which  will  contain  the  amount  of  iron  intended 
by  the  Pharmacopoeia. 
In  earlier  editions  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  the  tincture  was  prepared  by 
dissolving,  with  the  aid  of  a  gentle  heat,  one-half  pound  of  the  so-called 
subcarbonate  of  iron  in  a  pint  of  hydrochloric  acid  and  adding  three 
pints  of  alcohol.    This  formula  did  not  give  universal  satisfaction,  on 
