Vina Medicata.—Medicated Wines.
Related entries: Vinum.—Wine
By medicated wines we mean vinous tinctures of those medicinal agents which are capable of yielding their virtues to wine, either pure or diluted. As a rule vinous tinctures are much inferior to alcoholic, on account of their tendency to decomposition, and the uncertainty of their strength, and should therefore be made without heat, in limited quantities at a time, and kept cool in well-closed bottles. Wines owe their solvent properties largely to the alcohol which they contain, as well as to the acid (chiefly acid tartrate of potassium) which they usually hold in greater or less proportion; and in the selection of them for medicinal purposes, the purest qualities only should be chosen. Native wine forms an elegant medicated wine, when the article is to be used immediately; but if the compound be allowed to stand for any time fermentation and decomposition take place, hence the necessity for the official stronger wine. Medicated wines, like tinctures, may be prepared by maceration, or by percolation, or by dissolving the substance in wine.
I. BY MACERATION.—The powdered article or articles are placed in wine, and are allowed to macerate in a closed glass bottle, usually for 14 days, with occasional agitation; after which the articles are expressed if necessary, and filtered through paper or a fine muslin cloth.
II. BY PERCOLATION.—The powdered article or articles are first covered with wine, and allowed to stand until they are moistened throughout, which generally requires from 24 to 36 hours; the whole is then transferred to a percolator, and wine gradually poured on and allowed to percolate or filter until the requisite amount has passed.
The following wine is official, but is not employed in Eclectic practice:
VINUM ANTIMONII (U. S. P.), Wine of antimony, Antimonial wine.—"Antimony and potassium tartrate, four grammes (4 Gm.) [62 grs.]; boiling distilled water, sixty-five cubic centimeters (65 Cc.) [2 fl℥, 95♏︎]; alcohol, one hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (150 Cc.) [5 fl℥, 35♏︎]; white wine, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl℥, 391♏︎]. Mix the alcohol with eight hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fl℥, 24♏︎] of white wine; dissolve the antimony and potassium tartrate in the boiling distilled water, and add the solution to the mixture. When the liquid is cold filter it through paper, and add enough white wine, through the filter, to make the product measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl℥, 391♏︎]"—(U. S. P.).
