A conspectus of the pharmacopoeias of the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin colleges of physicians being a practical compendium of materia medican and pharmacy / [Anthony Todd Thomson].

  • Thomson, Anthony Todd, 1778-1849
Date:
1829
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A conspectus of the pharmacopoeias of the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin colleges of physicians being a practical compendium of materia medican and pharmacy / [Anthony Todd Thomson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    adulterations of them, which are daily practised by the druggist, are not easily detected. The ingredients should be reduced to a coarse powder, and the maceration made in close vessels, exposed to a heat of 80°, and frequently shaken. When completely made, they should not be put away upon the ingredients, but filtered through bibulous paper, and kept for use in close bottles; for although they are not liable to spoil, yet, by the evaporation of the menstruum, their strength is altered, which, if they contain opium, or other active matters, may be productive of bad effects. Parmentier * proposes that one half of the spirituous menstruum be added to the vegetable ingredients at first, and after digesting six days, this part be poured off, and the remainder added. In six days more the whole is to be strongly expressed, and the two tinctures mixed together. By this method he imagines more of the active principles of the vegetables are extracted, and the tinctures obtained of a more uniform strength, ETHERS. Ethers are triple compounds of oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen, pro- duced from a new arrangement of the elements of alcohol, by the agency of the acids, at a heat of 160°. They are extremely light and volatile; have a peculiar strong odour and taste; and when pure, boil at a temperature under 100°. They require to be kept in very closely-stopped bottles, and in a cool place. In composition, ethers should not be added to mixtures until they are put into the phials, and ready to be corked; and directions should be given that any ethereal mixture be taken immediately after it is poured from the phial. WINES. Wine is a tolerably good menstruum for many vegetable prin- ciples; but it is liable to the objection of inequality of strength; and medicated wines are more liable to suffer decomposition from keeping than tinctures. Parmentier f proposes that, instead of pre- paring medicated wines as they have been usually prepared, the alcoholic tinctures should be added to wine in given quantities; by which means, he contends, the preparations are less nauseous, and always of the same determinate strength. They should be kept in well corked bottles, in a cool place. The London College has substi- tuted dilute spirit for wine, although the term wines (vinu) be still retained for these preparations. • Annales de Chimie, vol. lxii„ p. 40. | Ibid. vol. lii,,p. 46.