A more satisfactory plan is to deodorize the powdered opium itself with ether, by treating it three times after the manner prescribed in the Pharmacopoeia for "Opium Deodoratum," and then to exhaust this thoroughly with water, concentrate the percolate to four-fifths of the intended volume of finished product, and add the necessary quantity of alcohol; this method involves the use of a larger quantity of ether (which can be redistilled and used for a subsequent operation), but entirely obviates the formation of troublesome emulsions, and yields an unobjectionable product.

Federer's process for deodorizing opium by freezing an aqueous infusion, which was published in full in the Druggists Circular for April, 1887, is economical and not very troublesome; it removes all odor and narcotine, but a loss of morphine has invariably been noticed when operating by this method with assayed opium. The mare was carefully tested, and found completely free from morphine, proving that the loss occurred in the dark deposit separated during the freezing operation.

Recently (December, 1900) F. T. Gordon has suggested a method for deodorizing opium by means of paraffin (R. Rother in 1883 proposed a mixture of vaseline and spermaceti for the same purpose), which bids fair to replace the present official method with ether, as it is claimed to be equally efficient and is far less troublesome and expensive. An infusion obtained by exhausting 100 Gm. of granulated opium with water is concentrated to 500 Cc. and heated to about 82° C. (179.6° F.); 150 Gm. of paraffin, melting at about 50° C. (122° F.), are now added in small pieces, and when liquefied the mixture is thoroughly stirred or shaken for ten minutes until the paraffin no longer seems to darken in color. After cooling the hardened crust of paraffin is broken, the deodorized liquid poured off, and the dish and under side of the paraffin washed with a little cold water, the washings being added to the decanted liquid. The mixture is filtered through paper and the filtrate made up to a volume of 800 Ce. by addition of water, after which 200 Cc. of alcohol are added, and finally enough water to bring the volume up to 1000 Cc. The morphine strength of this tincture is identical with that of the plain tincture of opium.

Tinctura Physostigmatis.-Tincture of Calabar bean should be preserved in small, well-stoppered vials, and protected against light, on account of the sensitiveness of the alkaloidal salts, when in solution, to the influence of air and light.

Tinctura Quassiæ.- No tannin being contained in quassia, the tincture is not discolored by iron salts, and is often selected from among the bitter stomachies on that account.

Tinctura Quillaja.-Boiling water extracts all the saponaceous principles from quillaja, but also considerable inert matter, which is sought to be removed, in the official process for making the tincture, by addition of alcohol; the latter also finally preserves the finished product.

Tinctura Sanguinariæ.-The addition of acetic acid to the menstruum not only facilitates the exhaustion of the drug, but also materially improves the stability of the tincture.

Tinctura Strophanthi.-When made strictly according to the Pharmacopoeia, tincture of strophanthus is at first cloudy and gradually deposits fatty matter, slowly becoming brighter. Strophanthus seeds contain considerable fixed oil, which can be removed by percolation with ether, before using the official menstruum; ether does not affect the active principle strophanthin, which is perfectly soluble in diluted alcohol. The use of ether has been objected to on account of its volatile nature and the expense, and Scoville and Loewe, in 1899, suggested the removal of the fat by a process of chilling, which has proved quite successful. The tincture prepared according to pharmacopoeial directions is placed in a flask and the flask buried in a mixture of crushed ice and salt, and allowed to remain there for two hours. The temperature rapidly sinks to - 14° C. (6.8° F.), and at the end of the prescribed time an abundant semi-flocculent grayish sediment will have been formed, which is removed by filtration through paper in a funnel kept packed in ice and salt. The resulting product is bright in appearance and leaves no fatty stain when evaporated on bibulous paper.

CHAPTER XXI.

WINES AND VINEGARS.

THESE two classes of preparations have almost passed into disuse among physicians, and their number has been diminished in the last Pharmacopoeia; in place of 13 wines officially recognized in 1880, only 10 now remain, and the number of vinegars has been reduced from 4 to 2.

WINES.

Both white and red wines are recognized in the Pharmacopoeia; but in the preparation of the official medicated wines, only the white wine is directed, on account of its lesser astringency, and in each case the alcoholic strength of the preparation is increased by the addition of alcohol to the extent of 15 per cent. This fortification of the wine is particularly necessary to insure the stability of vegetable solutions during warm weather. Native wines can now be obtained of good quality, and are given preference by the Pharmacopoeia. The chief difference between white and red wines lies in the dark coloring-matter and larger proportion of tannin in the latter, due to the fact that in the case of red wines the pericarp, or skin of the grape, is allowed to remain with the expressed juice during fermentation; were the skins carefully removed, many dark-colored grapes would also yield white wines, for the juice is naturally colorless. Much of the tannin found in wines may also be derived from the casks in which they are stored. As white wines, as a rule, contain only very small proportions of tannin, they are preferred as menstrua for medicated wines.

The presence of appreciable quantities of tannin in wine is decidedly objectionable if the wine is to be used in connection with iron and other metallic salts; moreover, tannin is incompatible with alkaloids, and hence wine not deprived of its tannin should never be used as a menstruum for alkaloidal drugs. The process of freeing wines from tannin is termed detannating them, and is a very simple operation. The simplest plan is to add 1⁄2 ounce of gelatin in No. 40 or No. 60 powder to 1 gallon of the wine, and agitate occasionally during twenty-four or forty-eight hours; then filter. The operation is preferably carried out during cold weather or in a cold apartment, as heat will cause the gelatin to dissolve, and the maceration must be continued until a small portion of the wine mixed

with a few drops of ferric chloride solution shows no darkening of color. Gelatin in large pieces is not suitable, especially with wines containing much taunin, since the newly formed tannate of gelatin will be deposited on the surface and prevent further intimate contact of the gelatin with the wine. Formerly freshly prepared ferric hydroxide was much employed for detannating wine, but the chief objection to its use is the fact that some iron invariably is taken up by the acid present in the wine; moreover, the process is more tedious than in the case of gelatin. As the removal of tannin from wine in no way interferes with its quality-alcoholic strength and aroma remaining the same, and only coloring-matter being lost-a supply of detannated wine should be kept on hand, for it requires very little more labor to detannate a gallon than a pint.

If ferric hydroxide is to be used, it must be freshly prepared, and a convenient quantity then be added to the wine-about 8 ounces of the expressed, but moist, precipitate to a gallon.

Both white and red wines have an acid reaction, due to potassium bitartrate held in solution; this acidity is limited, by the Pharmacopoeia, to from 4.49 to 7.78 Gm. of free acid per liter. The amount of solid matter in wines should range between 1.5 and 3.5 per cent., and may be ascertained by evaporation and drying on the water-bath during twelve hours. The Pharmacopoeia also specifies the alcoholic strength to be from 10 to 14 per cent. by weight, which is equal to 12.4 to 17.3 per cent. by volume of absolute alcohol, the official directions for ascertaining the percentage of alcohol present being to take the specific gravity of the wine at 15.6° C. (60° F.), evaporate a carefully measured portion of it, in a tared capsule, to one-third of its weight, cool and restore the original volume by the addition of water, and again take the specific gravity of the liquid at 15.6° C. (60° F.); the difference between the two specific gravities subtracted from 1.000 indicates the specific gravity of an alcohol containing the same percentage of absolute alcohol as the wine, the corresponding percentage being ascertained by reference to the alcoholometric tables published in the Pharmacopoeia. Suppose the wine before evaporation has a specific gravity of 0.9930, and after evaporation and addition of water, 1.0098: then 1.0098 -0.9930 = 0.0168, and 1.000 — 0.0168 0.9832; by referring to the tables it is found that alcohol of 0.9832 specific gravity at 15.6 C. (60° F.) contains between 10 and 11 per cent. by weight, or between 12 and 13 per cent. by volume, or absolute alcohol.

Red wines are frequently colored artificially with aniline, which coloration may be detected by the tests officially directed for that purpose. If red wine be mixed with twice its volume of potassa solution and a small quantity of chloroform, and the mixture then carefully heated, the presence of certain aniline colors will develop a very disagreeable odor, due to the formation of isonitril. Fuchsine may be detected by the crimson color imparted to uncolored

silk fibre placed in contact with a mixture of acetic acid and an ethereal extract of red wine previously treated with ammonia-water in excess; as the mixture is evaporated in a porcelain dish the color is developed. Hydrochloric acid should not produce a red color if added to a filtrate obtained from shaking warm red wine with manganese dioxide, showing the absence of sulpho-fuchsine.

THE OFFICIAL MEDICATED WINES. Of these, 2 are prepared by percolation-wine of colchicum root and wine of ergot; 2 by maceration-wine of colchicum seed and wine of opium; and 4 by simple solution of the medicinal agent in the menstruum-wine of antimony, bitter wine of iron, wine of ferric citrate, and wine of ipecac.

TABLE OF OFFICIAL WINES SHOWING STRENGTH AND MENSTRUUM USED.

Owing to the weak alcoholic menstruum, both drugs should be

packed only moderately.

Wine of opium is of the same morphine strength as the tincture, namely, 0.013-0.015 Gm, in each Ce. It was formerly known as Sydenham's Laudanum.