Tinctura Gentianae Composita. U. S., Br. Compound Tincture of Gentian. Tr. Gentian. Co.

Botanical name: 

Related entries: Gentiana

Teinture (alcoole) de Gentiane Composee, Fr.; Zusammengesetzte Enziantinktur, G.

*"Gentian, in No. 40 powder, one hundred grammes [or 3 ounces av., 231 grains]; Bitter Orange Peel, in No. 40 powder, forty grammes [or 1 ounce av., 180 grains]; Cardamom Seed, in No. 40 powder, ten grammes [or 154 grains], to make one thousand mils [or 33 fluidounces, 6½ fluidrachms]. Prepare a Tincture by Type Process P, packing it moderately and using as the first menstruum a mixture of one hundred mils [or 3 fluidounces, 183 minims] of glycerin, five hundred mils [or 16 fluidounces, 435 minims] of alcohol and four hundred mils [or 13 fluidounces, 252 minims] of water and completing the percolation with diluted alcohol." U. S.

"Gentian Root, cut small and bruised, 100.0 grammes; Dried Bitter-Orange Peel, bruised, 37.5 grammes; Cardamom Seeds, in powder, 12.5 grammes; Alcohol (45 per cent.), 1000.0 millilitres. Prepare by the maceration process." Br.

There has always been difficulty from precipitation in this tincture; glycerin has been added to the menstruum to overcome this annoyance, but it is only partially successful. This is an elegant bitter, much used in dyspepsia, and as an addition to tonic mixtures in debilitated states of the digestive organs. There is, however, much danger of its abuse by alcoholics, especially in chronic cases.

Dose, one to two fluidrachms (3.75-7.5 mils).


The Dispensatory of the United States of America, 1918, was edited by Joseph P. Remington, Horatio C. Wood and others.