Tinctura Capsici. U. S., Br. Tincture of Capsicum. Tr. Capsic.

Botanical name: 

Tincture of Cayenne Pepper; Teinture (alcoole) de Piment des Jardins, Fr.; Tinctura capsici, P. G.; Spanischpfeffertinktur, G.

"Capsicum, in No. 50 powder, one hundred grammes [or 3 ounces av., 231 grains]; to make one thousand mils [or 33 fluidounces, 6 ½ fluidrachms]. Prepare a Tincture by Type Process P, using a mixture of ninety-five volumes of alcohol and five volumes of water as the menstruum." U. S. "Capsicum, in No. 20 powder, 50 grammes; Alcohol (60 per cent.), 1000 millilitres. Prepare by the maceration process." Br.

The U. S. P. tincture is double the strength of the British. The alcoholic strength of the menstruum is of unusual proportions, 19 volumes of alcohol to 1 volume of water, the reason for this is that, on account of oleoresinous constituents of capsicum, alcohol is required and on account of a small quantity of a constituent soluble in water and insoluble in alcohol a little water must be added to the menstruum to prevent cloudiness. It is used in atonic conditions of the stomach, especially in alcoholic gastritis. It may also be used locally in various sluggish conditions of the throat and for the various purposes for which red pepper is applicable. (See Capsicum.) Applied by means of camel's-hair pencil to the relaxed uvula, it sometimes produces contraction and relieves prolapsus of that part.

Dose, of the U S. tincture, five to ten minims (0.3-0.6 mil); of the Br. preparation, ten to twenty minims (0.6-1.3 mils).

Off. Prep.—Tinctura Chloroformi et Morphinae Composita, Br.; Mistura Chloroformi et Morphinae Composita, N. F.; Mistura Opii et Chloroformi Composita, N. F.; Mistura Opii et Rhei Composita, N. F.


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