Tinctura Aconiti. U. S., Br. Tincture of Aconite. Tr. Aconit. [Aconiti Tinctura P. I.]
Related entries: Aconite
"One hundred mils of Tincture of Aconite yields not less than 0.045 Gm. nor more than 0.055 Gm. of the ether-soluble alkaloids of aconite. If assayed biologically the minimum lethal dose should not be greater than 0.0004 mil for each gramme of body weight of guinea-pig." U. S. "Tincture of Aconite contains in 100 millilitres 0.04 gramme of the ether-soluble alkaloids of Aconite Root." Br.
Tinctura Aconiti Radicis, U. S. 1870; Tincture of Aconite Root; Teinture de racine d'Aconit, Fr. Cod.; Tinctura Aconiti, P. G.; Akonittinktur, Eisenhuttinktur, G.; Tinctura di aconito, It.; Tintura alcoholica de aconito, Sp.
"Aconite, in No. 60 powder, one "hundred grammes [or 3 ounces av., 231 grains], to make about one thousand mils [or 33 fluidounces, 6 ½ fluidrachms]. Prepare a Tincture by Type Process P, as modified for assayed tinctures, using a mixture of seven volumes of alcohol and three volumes of water as the menstruum and adjusting the volume of the finished Tincture so that each one hundred mils contains 0.05 Gm. of the ether-soluble alkaloids of aconite." U. S.
"Aconite Root, in No. 40 powder, 150 grammes; Alcohol (70 per cent.), a sufficient quantity. Moisten the powder with seventy-five millilitres of the Alcohol, and produce, by the percolation process, one thousand millilitres of a strong tincture. Determine the proportion of ether-soluble alkaloids present in this strong tincture, by evaporating one hundred millilitres to dryness in a shallow porcelain evaporating basin, and proceeding as directed under 'Aconiti Radix' Dilute the remainder of the strong tincture with sufficient of the Alcohol to produce a Tincture of Aconite containing 0.04 gramme of ether-soluble alkaloids in 100 millilitres of the Tincture. Examined by the foregoing process Tincture of Aconite is found to contain in 100 millilitres 0.04 gramme of the ether-soluble alkaloids of Aconite Root. Limit of error 0.002 gramme in excess or defect. This Tincture is of approximately the same strength as the Tinctura Aconiti of the International Agreement, and about twice as strong as the corresponding preparation of the British Pharmacopoeia, 1898." Br.
The old tincture of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, 1890, had seven times the strength of the British, and the title was changed from Tinctura Aconiti Radicis to Tinctura Aconiti in the U. S., 1880, revision. It was much stronger than the Tincture of Aconite Leaves, which is still used occasionally, and made of the strength of two troy ounces of powdered aconite leaves in a pint of diluted alcohol, and too much caution cannot be observed to avoid mistaking one tincture for the other. A very important change was made in the strength of Tincture of Aconite in the U. S. P. VIII. The former 35 per cent. tincture was replaced by a tincture of 10 per cent., which is now the strength of the official tincture, 1914. A chemical assay process was also appended and the U. S. P. IX further recommends a biological standard and assay. The latter is desirable because faulty manipulation or storage changes the aconitine to inert bodies, and this would not be detected by the chemical assay. In preparing it, each step of the process must be carefully attended to. The root should be thoroughly comminuted, and very carefully packed in the percolator, and the displacing menstruum very gradually added. Tartaric acid which was formerly used in accordance with the researches of Duquesnel in the U. S., 1880, tincture has been abandoned, as it was found to be unnecessary. For a paper on Tincture of Aconite, by M. I. Wilbert, see Proc. A. Ph. A., 1902, 348. The external use of the tincture requires care, as serious symptoms have followed its too free employment. (Case, B. M. S. J., Feb., 1872, 74.)
Fleming's Tincture of Aconite.—This should always be expressly designated when prescribed. It is considerably stronger than the official; and several deaths have occurred from the use of it. The following is Fleming's formula: Take of the root, carefully dried and finely powdered, sixteen (troy) ounces; Alcohol, sixteen fluidounces. Macerate for four days, put into a percolator, and add alcohol until twenty-four fluidounces are obtained. Not more than two drops of this should be given as a commencing dose, to be increased till its peculiar effects are experienced.
Dose, U. S. tincture, 3-10 min. (0.2-0.6 mil); Br. tincture, 5-15 min. (0.3-0.9 mil); if frequently repeated, 2-5 min. (0.12-0.3 mil).
