_Antimonial Wine._
During the period that I was Censor of the College, I took considerable
trouble, in conjunction with my colleagues, to ascertain the state in
which this preparation was to be generally met with in the wholesale and
retail shops of the metropolis. We were satisfied, during our official
visitations, that where _sound_ Sherry wine had been employed as a
solvent, an efficient and permanent solution was obtained, and that no
precipitation of Antimony took place, the sediment which occurred being
merely _Tartrate of Lime_, an incidental impurity derived from the
_Cream of tartar:_ but in a majority of instances an inferior wine of
British manufacture was substituted, in which case the Antimonial Oxyd
was universally found in a copious precipitate, in combination with
vegetable extractive matter; and I have even seen this decomposition so
complete, that the supernatant liquor would not yield any trace of the
antimonial salt. This report has been confirmed by successive Censors,
and the College have accordingly endeavoured to remedy the evil, by
superseding the use of wine altogether, and of introducing a spirit of
equivalent strength. The virtues of this solution are those detailed
under the history of _Antimonium Tartarizatum_; of which two grains are
contained in every fluid-ounce of the preparation. The Medicinal
Dynameter will shew the proportion of salt in any other given quantity.
DOSE, ♏︎x to fʒj, in any suitable vehicle, repeated every three or four
hours, in which case it acts as a diaphoretic. As an emetic, it may be
given to infants in the dose of a tea-spoonful, every ten minutes, until
the desired effect is produced. See _Form: 69_, and 117.[710]
VINUM COLCHICI. This medicated wine is made as follows: Take of the
recent bulb of the Colchicum, sliced and bruised, [pound]j; of Proof
Spirit, f℥iv; of water, f℥viij; let them infuse for fourteen days, and
filter for use. There is perhaps no form better calculated to ensure the
medical effects of the plant than the one we are now considering. Its
dose may be stated to be from ♏︎xx to fʒiss. The virtues of Colchicum
have been already noticed, see _Colchici Radix_.
VINUM FERRI. L.D. When prepared according to the London College (P.L.
1809.) each pint is stated to contain 22 grains of the red Oxide of
Iron; the strength however must in such a case depend upon the quantity
of _tartar_ contained in the wine. Very dry Sherry is frequently
incapable of acting upon the iron until a small proportion of Cream of
Tartar be added to it; would it not therefore be adviseable to direct at
once a given portion of _ferrum tartarizatum_ to be dissolved in wine?
The Dublin formula is more eligible than that of the former London
Pharmacopœia, since it directs the use of _Rhenish_ wine instead of
Sherry as a solvent, and iron wire in preference to iron _filings_; this
last circumstance is important, for the purest iron can only be drawn,
and this is most easily acted upon by the super-tartrate of potass.
These observations are offered to those who still prefer to make the
preparation with wine. They can have no relation to the present _Vinum
Ferri_ of the London College, which is prepared with a weak spirit, and
which contains tartrate of potass and iron, with an excess of
super-tartrate which supplies the place of the acid contained in the
wine, and ensures the solution of the tartarized iron in the Spirit.
According to the experiments of Mr. Phillips, which I have every reason
to believe accurate, the present preparation contains less peroxide of
iron than the former did; it will be seen by the Dynameter that f℥j
contains exactly one grain, which is exactly equivalent to five grains
of Tartarized Iron, whereas an equal quantity of the former wine held in
solution 1–4/10 gr, which was equivalent to seven grains of the salt.
_Med. Uses._ It is the least unpleasant of all the preparations of iron,
and its medicinal activity is supported by the testimony of ages, for it
is one of the oldest preparations with which we are acquainted. _Dose_,
fʒij to f℥ss.
VINUM IPECACUANHÆ. L.E.D. The virtues of this root are completely
extracted by dilute spirit. _Dose_, as an emetic, from fʒij to f℥ss: as
a diaphoretic, from ♏︎xx to xl. _See Form. 63, 137._
VINUM OPII. L.E.[711] This is a spirituous solution of the _extract_ of
Opium combined with various aromatics, which are supposed to modify the
effects of the opium, while by the substitution of the extract for the
crude opium, it is considered as being less likely to disturb the
nervous system. I submit whether the views offered under the history of
Wine, respecting the relative effects of combined and uncombined
Alcohol, might not lead us, by analogy, to prepare a more efficient
_vinum opii_, and a preparation less likely to affect the stomach: by
adding the opium to the wine during its state of fermentation, it would
enter into intimate union with its elements, in the same way that brandy
is incorporated by the technical manipulation of _fretting-in:_ this
suggestion is also sanctioned by the generally acknowledged superiority
of the _Black Drop_, which I have little doubt is indebted for its
peculiar efficacy to the state of combination in which the _acetate of
morphia_ exists in the vinous menstruum. The preparation, when made with
wine, as directed in the late Pharmacopœia, is nearly analogous to the
celebrated _Liquid Laudanum_[712] of Sydenham, and its degree of
narcotic power is nearly the same as that of the ordinary tincture, as
may be seen by referring to the _Medicinal Dynameter_.
VINUM VERATRI. L. Since the discovery of the real nature of the _Eau
Medicinale_, this preparation has fallen into comparative disuse, and
might have been removed, as we have now introduced the _Vinum Colchici_.
It is however a singular circumstance that both these preparations
should owe their medicinal powers to the same elementary principle, viz.
_Veratria_; and as some practitioners are still addicted to its use, the
Committee agreed to let it remain.