Syrup of Dentition.
BY W. B. THOMPSON.
(Honey should not be given to children under 1 year. -Henriette
A compound, with the above as a title, is being ordered of the apothecaries of this city, by prescription, ordering by title alone, generally finds the dispenser unfamiliar with this class of preparations. In the absence of other accessible means it is, of course, only by application to the prescriber or to some druggist who may happen to possess it, that the dispenser can procure the formula. It is proper that as soon as such recipes come into vogue or use they should become, through publication, common property, to the end that all may have equal opportunity.
The writer, on procuring the formula, and being under the impression that it was original in the French Codex, applied to Professor Maisch, who, after examination, very kindly gave the following information:
Dorvault's l'Officine (but not the French Codex) contains the recipe under the name of 'Sirop de Dentition de Delabarre' with a formula very similar to that you gave me, as follows:
| Rx. | Juice of fresh tamarinds | 3 gm. |
| Infusion of saffron (strength 3 per cent.) | 2 gm. | |
| Purified honey | 10 gm. | |
| Tincture of vanilla | 25 gm. |
Dorvault says, in a note appended, "The juice of tamarinds may be replaced by the pulp diffused in water" (proportions not given), the fresh juice, of course, not being obtainable.
There being, as will be observed, considerable obscurity in regard to proportion of ingredients in the components of the above, something will have to be assumed by individual judgment in working out an acceptable and nice compound. The preparation will be assigned, naturally, a place among the fanciful, but will attract the attention of the younger members of the medical fraternity by its novelty. The elders, we imagine, will want it but seldom, unless it can be demonstrated that it has something of utility in it. As a placebo it may divert the infant by sweetening the coming tooth, but that it will assuage or mitigate the pain of that sometimes painful process, dentition (if that be the purpose and intention of the preparation), readers will pardon the writer for doubting.
PHILADELPHIA, November 15, 1884.
The American Journal of Pharmacy, Vol. 56, 1884, was edited by John M. Maisch.
