Tinctura Laricis Composita.—Compound Tincture of Larch.
Related entry: Larix Americana.—Tamarac
SYNONYMS: Tinctura pinus pendulae composita, Compound tincture of tamarac.
Preparation.—Take of tamarac bark, juniper berries, of each, in fine powder, 6 ounces; prickly ash bark, in fine powder, 4 ounces; wild cherry bark, seneca snakeroot, of each, in fine powder, 3 ounces; tansy, coarsely powdered, 1 ounce; whiskey, 5 pints; molasses, 1 ½ pints; hydro-alcoholic extract of mandrake, 1 ½ ounces; water, a sufficient quantity. Let the medicinal herbs, roots, and barks be mixed together. To the mixture add 3 pints of the whiskey, and let it stand 24 hours; then place the whole in a percolator, and percolate with whiskey until 24 pints are obtained. To this add the molasses and the hydro-alcoholic extract of mandrake, which last must be thoroughly dissolved.
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—Although not properly a tincture, yet to avoid a new class of pharmaceutic agents (bitters), I place this compound among the tinctures. It is an improvement upon the old preparation called Bone's Bitters, and is generally preferred by physicians. It possesses nearly four times the strength of that heretofore made, and, consequently, must be taken in a much smaller dose, a desideratum with all medicines containing alcohol. The whiskey and juniper berries are less expensive, and more readily obtainable than the pure Holland gin recommended in the original, and likewise render the preparation more actively diuretic; and the substitution of the extract of mandrake for the bitter and, to many patients, unbearable taste of aloes, renders it much more valuable as a cholagogue, alterative, and aperient. It forms an excellent alterative tonic and aperient for dyspeptic affections, menstrual derangements, hepatic torpor, constipation, urinary difficulties, etc. The dose is ½ fluid ounce, 3 times a day, about an hour previous to each meal (J. King) .
Related Tincture.—TINCTURA LARICIS, Tincture of larch. "Take of larch bark, in No. 40 powder, 2 ½ ounces (av.); rectified spirit, 1 pint (Imp.)"—(Br. Pharm., 1885; not in edition of 1898). Prepare as directed under Tinctura Sennae. Unless carefully preserved, this tincture decomposes; it has a reddish-brown color. This agent is used for the same purposes as many of the terebinthinates. Dose, 10 to 30 minims.
