Show I ALCOHOL IN MOST MEDICINES IndIspensable Requisite in Compound Ing of Some Prescriptions It Is of course true that somo pro prletar medicines contain alcohol and nearly nil liquid me < llalncs prescribed by physicians contain It No honest man will K defend tho sale ot Intoxl cants under the guise of medicine but every honest man should against a Bjsten of wholesale protest dcnuii clatlon born of malice or Ignorance of Pharmaceutical principles and fos tered by selfish Interests It is as sumed that alcohol Is the cause of In temperance but there Is a great dif ference between alcohol and whisky If a substitute for alcohol could be found for uso In the manufacture 01 medicines Its discoverer would render a great service to tho profession or Pharmacy and the science of medicine medi-cine for alcohol Is a very expensive Ingredient and a cheaper substitute would bo gladly accepted Unfortunately Unfortun-ately the word alcohol in tho minds of many people Is f associated exclusively exclu-sively with barrooms drunkenness and all forms of degradation and vice This Is duo to a lack of knowledge by the general public of tho fact that alcohol Is an indispensable requisite In drugs tinctures and fluid extracts All fluid extracts and tinctures on the druggists shelves contain from 20 to 90 per cent of alcohol and of all liquid medicines prescribed by physicians phy-sicians more than 75 per cent contain It In large proportions Alcohol Is required to preserve organic or-ganic substances from deterioration and from freezing and It Is also required re-quired to dissolve substances not soluble solu-ble In water while It contributes to their preservation when dissolved Diluted alcohol Is largely employed In fluid extracts and whenever a greater strength of alcohol Is required as a solvent for extracting medicinal principles prin-ciples the medicine is of such a character char-acter as to preclude a large dosage and for this reason preparations even If containing 60 per cent or more of alcohol are practically less Intoxlcat ing than beer In such cases the character Of the medicinal constituents Is such as to absolutely forbid the taking of the medicine In any way except in very small doses and at stated Intervals only To assume that any great number of proprietary1 medicines med-icines are used as beverages Is the I Veriest absurdity Exchange |