The American dispensatory : containing the natural, chemical, pharmaceutical and medical history of the different substances employed in medicine, together with the operations of pharmacy / illustrated and explained, according to the principles of modern chemistry.

  • Coxe, John Redman, 1773-1864.
Date:
1827
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The American dispensatory : containing the natural, chemical, pharmaceutical and medical history of the different substances employed in medicine, together with the operations of pharmacy / illustrated and explained, according to the principles of modern chemistry. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    cess, as a diuretic and expectorant. The dose of this medicine is from half a drachm to half an ounce: where crudities abound in the first passages, it may be given at first in a larger dose, to evacuate them by vomiting. It is most conveniently exhibited along with cin- namon, or other agreeable aromatic waters, which prevent the nau- sea it would otherwise, even in small doses, be apt to occasion. When kept, Vogel, (An. de Chim. V. 83. p. 157,) says the vinegar of squills deposits a precipitate, consisting of citrat of lime and tan- nin. It is to be regretted that the formulae of different Pharmacopoeias should vary greatly from each other; more especially in medicines, good in themselves, or which serve as the basis of others. It appears very desirable that all our preparations should be made as strong as possible. We can always modify the dose to meet existing circum- stances; but if originally weak, it demands a proportionate increase in the dose, which, in a remedy so nauseous as the one under notice, it would be well to avoid. Acidum Aceticum Camphoratum, D. E. Camphorated Acetic Acid. Syn. Acide acetique camphre, (F.) Take of strong Acetic acid, six ounces; Camphor, half an ounce.— Triturate the camphor with a little alcohol; add it to the acid, and dissolve. The alcohol in this preparation is used merely to facilitate the re- duction of the camphor to powder; for the acetic acid is capable of dissolving even a larger portion of camphor than is directed in the above formula. This solution is a powerful analeptic remedy. Its vapour snuffed up the nostrils, which is the only method of using it, is one of the most pungent stimuli we possess. It is so extremely volatile, that it cannot be preserved without excluding it from the contact of the air; and it is so powerful a menstruum, that it corrodes cork, and almost all common metals except gold. It should therefore be kept in glass phials, with ground glass stoppers, or in small gold boxes, such as are used for Henry's aromatic spirit of vinegar, for which it is in fact a simple substitute. Henry's aromatic vinegar is merely an acetic solution of camphor, oil of cloves, of lavender, and rosemary. A preparation of this kind may be made extemporaneously, by putting one drachm of acetat of potash into a phial with a few drops of some essential oil, and n\,xx of sulphuric acid. This is a patent nostrum. ACETUM OPII. Vinegar of Opium, or Black Drop. Take of Opium, half a pound; Vinegar, three pints; Nutmeg, bruised, one ounce and a half; Saffron, half an ounce.—Boil them to a pro- per consistence, then add Sugar, four ounces; Yeast, one fluid ounce.—Digest for seven weeks, then place in the open air until it becomes a syrup; lastly, decant, filter, and bottle it up, adding a little sugar to each bottle. Am.