The dispensatory of the United States of America / by Geo. B. Wood and Franklin Bache.

Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The dispensatory of the United States of America / by Geo. B. Wood and Franklin Bache. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Gerstein Science Information Centre at the University of Toronto, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Gerstein Science Information Centre, University of Toronto.

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    macists in making medicated vinegars, it is now usually substituted by diluted acetic acid. Adulterations. The principal foreign substances which vinegar is liable to con- tain, are sulphuric and sulphurous acids, certain acrid substances, and copper and lead, derived from improper vessels used in its manufacture. Tin has been found in it after standing a short time in tin vessels. Hydrochloric and nitric acids are but rarely present. A test said to have been discovered by Chevallier (^A. J. P., April, 1872) is as follows. Put an ounce of the suspected vinegar into a small porcelain capsule, over a water-bath, and evaporate to about half a drachm, or to the consistence of a thin extract. When cool, add half a fluidounce of stronger alcohol, and thoroughly triturate. The free sulphuric acid, if present, will be taken up by the alcohol to the exclusion of any sulphate. Filter the alcoholic solution, add one fluidounce of distilled - water, evaporate off the alcohol, and filter. Acidulate the filtrate with hydrochloric acid, add a few drops of a solution of chloride of barium, and a white precipitate of sulphate of barium will result if the sample of vinegar has been adulterated with sul- phuric acid. Other methods are described by 0. Hehner (Arch, der Phamiacie, JMay, 1877), see A. J. P., May, 1877, Nessler [Pkarm. Cent. Halle, No. 40, 1877), Chem. and Drug., April 1-i, 1877, The Analyist, 1877, p. 163, X. P., Feb. 1878, F. Masset (/our. de Pharm. dAnvers, 1879, p. 88), A. J. P., Feb. 1880. Chloride of barium is not a suitable test for the presence of sulphuric acid ; as it will cause a precipitate with sulphates, which are often found in vinegar when no free sulphuric acid is present. The evaporation of a sample of vinegar in contact with a piece of white sugar or on white paper will show the presence of free sulphuric acid by the charring which ensues. Hydrochloric acid may be discovered by adding to a distilled portion of the suspected vinegar a solution of nitrate of silver, which will throw down a curdy white precipitate, insoluble in nitric acid. If nitric acid be present, an improbable impurity, it may be detected by producing a yellow color, when the suspected vinegar is boiled with indigo. The acrid substances usually introduced into vinegar are red pepper, long pepper, pellitor}', grains of paradise, and mustard seed. These may be detected by evaporating the vinegar to an extract, which will have an acrid, biting taste, if any one of these substances be present. By far the most dangerous impurities in vinegar are copper and lead. The former may be detected bj' a brownish precipitate on the addition of ferrocyanide of potas- sium to the concentrated vinegar; the latter, by a blackish precipitate with sulphu- retted hydrogen, and a yellow one with iodide of potassium. Pure vinegar is not discolored by sulphuretted hydrogen. According to Chevallier, wine vinegar, which has been strengthened with acetic acid from wood, sometimes contains a minute proportion of arsenic. This is probably derived from arseniferous sulphuric acid, employed in preparing the acetic acid. Medical Properties. Vinegar acts as a refrigerant and diuretic. With this view it is added to diluent drinks in inflammatory fevers. It is sometimes used against seat-worms, and for other purposes, as a clyster, diluted with twice or thrice its bulk of water. Externally it is employed as a fomentation in bruises and sprains; it is a very valuable remedy in dermatitis from exposure to the sun. Diluted with water, it fgrms the best means of clearing the eye from small particles of lime. Its vapor is inhaled in certain states of sore throat, and it is diffused through sick-rooms under the impression that it destroys unwholesome effluvia, though, in fact, it has little other effect than to cover unpleasant smells. The dose is from one to four fluidrachms (3-75-15 C.c.); as a clyster, the quantity used is one or two fluidounccs (30-60 C.c). Off. Prep. Emplastrum Cerati Saponis, Br. ACETUM CANTHARIDIS. Br. Vinegar of Ointharides. (a-ce'tCm c.\x-thar'i-dis.) Vinaigre cantharid^, Fr.; Canthariden-Essig, G. Cantharides, in powder, two ounces [Avoirdupois]; Glacial Acetic Acid tico fluidounces [Imperial measure]; Acetic Acid eighteenjiuidounces [Imp. meas.], or
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