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The 1864 preparations contain either crude opium or its aqueous Extractum Opii; those quantities must be distinguished from a quantity of isolated morphine. The following are the officinal opium preparations. Ratios for solids mean the mass fraction in the compounded preparation; liquid strengths specify mass per volume or the actual ingredients used.
- Emplastrum Opii: powdered opium in resin plaster: 1 in 10.
- Enema Opii: opium tincture 30 minims with starch decoction 2 fluid ounces. Thus the tincture is 1 volume to 32 volumes of vehicle, before mixing.
- Extractum Opii: aqueous solvent extraction of 1 avoirdupois pound of sliced opium with 6 Imperial pints of distilled water, in three successive portions, followed by evaporation. The prescribed starting quantities do not impose a fixed yield or a universal crude-drug-to-extract potency ratio.
- Extractum Opii Liquidum: Extractum Opii 1 avoirdupois ounce, distilled water 17 fluid ounces, rectified spirit 3 fluid ounces: 1 ounce of extract to the pint of liquid ingredients.
- Linimentum Opii: equal volumes of opium tincture and soap liniment: half the tincture's nominal opium strength.
- Pilula Opii: powdered opium with hard soap: 1 in 5 of the nominal pill ingredients.
- Pilula Plumbi cum Opio: powdered opium with lead acetate and confection of roses: 1 in 8.
- Pulvis Cretae Aromaticus cum Opio: powdered opium with aromatic chalk powder: 1 in 40.
- Pulvis Ipecacuanhae cum Opio: powdered opium with ipecacuanha and potassium sulfate: 1 in 10.
- Pulvis Kino cum Opio: powdered opium with kino and cinnamon: 1 in 20.
[ref]
The Essentials of Materia Medica and Therapeutics by Alfred Baring Garrod (1865). Papaverceae, part 2, British formulas outside the bracketed American additions; underlying revision dated May 1864
- Tinctura Camphorae cum Opio: opium 40 grains to 1 Imperial pint of proof spirit, with benzoic acid, camphor and anise oil: 2 grains of opium per fluid ounce.
- Opium tincture, Tinctura Opii: powdered opium 1½ avoirdupois ounces to 1 Imperial pint of proof spirit. Nominally this is 32.8125 grains per fluid ounce, or approximately 1 grain per 14.63 minims.
- Trochisci Opii: 72 grains of Extractum Opii in 720 lozenges: one tenth of a grain of extract per lozenge.
- Unguentum Gallae cum Opio: powdered opium 32 grains added to 1 avoirdupois ounce of gall ointment. The actual nominal total is grains, giving 32/469.5 by mass, approximately 1 in 14.67; “32 grains to the ounce of ointment taken” is not 32 grains per final ounce.
- Vinum Opii: powdered opium 1½ avoirdupois ounces, sherry 1 Imperial pint: the tincture's nominal opium proportion, in a different solvent. This formula uses crude opium, not Extractum Opii.
[ref]
The Essentials of Materia Medica and Therapeutics by Alfred Baring Garrod (1865). Papaverceae, part 3, British tincture, lozenge, ointment and wine formulas
The arithmetic uses the new avoirdupois ounce of 437.5 grains, not the old apothecaries' ounce of 480 grains. These are historical formulation proportions, not modern assays of morphine delivered after solvent extraction. Confectio Opii was omitted in 1864, and this edition's Vinum Opii contains no spices. The separate morphine hydrochloride preparations—Liquor Morphiae Hydrochloratis, Suppositoria Morphiae, Trochisci Morphiae, and Trochisci Morphiae et Ipecacuanhae—contain an isolated alkaloid salt rather than crude opium. [ref]
The Prescriber's Analysis of the British Pharmacopoeia by John Birkbeck Nevins (1864). pp. 11–12, 39 and 75–76
The 1864 British Pharmacopoeia supplied mild rubefacients, blistering preparations and agents producing pustulation; these different degrees of injury were grouped under historical counterirritation. Redness of the skin demonstrates a local effect, not removal of inflammation from a distant organ. The following enumeration uses the preparations current for the 1865 examination.
- Mustard, as Sinapis and Cataplasma Sinapis, was a rapidly acting rubefacient, used historically for transient painful or spasmodic conditions and as a supposed revulsive application in internal disease. Its duration had to be limited because prolonged contact caused a burn. The later compound mustard liniment and mustard paper should not be silently inserted into this 1864 list.[ref]The Essentials of Materia Medica and Therapeutics by Alfred Baring Garrod (1865). Cruciferae, mustard and its official cataplasm
- Ammonia liniment, Linimentum Ammoniae, and the ammoniacal Linimentum Camphorae Compositum gave relatively prompt irritation. They were used for superficial muscular or rheumatic pains when a short rubefacient effect was desired. Simple camphor liniment and soap liniment were milder stimulating embrocations for stiff painful parts; the compound camphor liniment owed much of its greater irritation to Ammonia.[ref]The Essentials of Materia Medica and Therapeutics by Alfred Baring Garrod (1865). strong solution of ammonia; Lauraceae, camphor preparations
- Turpentine, in Linimentum Terebinthinae or Linimentum Terebinthinae Aceticum, and in the official turpentine ointment, was used as a stimulating application. Historical indications included muscular pain, neuralgic pain and chest or abdominal applications intended to act on deeper disease. The acetic preparation was the more irritating form. This does not establish that either could cure pneumonia or intestinal disease.[ref]The Essentials of Materia Medica and Therapeutics by Alfred Baring Garrod (1865). Coniferae, turpentine liniments and ointment
- Capsicum and its tincture supplied a pungent local stimulant, used in diluted embrocations for chronic painful conditions. Burgundy pitch, chiefly Emplastrum Picis, supplied milder sustained stimulation, historically chosen for chronic chest, back or rheumatic discomfort. An adhesive plaster could itself cause dermatitis.[ref]The Essentials of Materia Medica and Therapeutics by Alfred Baring Garrod (1865). Solanaceae, capsicum; Coniferae continued, pitch plaster
- Cantharides supplied Emplastrum Cantharidis, Linimentum Cantharidis, Emplastrum Calefaciens and Unguentum Cantharidis. The warming plaster aimed at a milder prolonged effect; the ordinary plaster and liniment were vesicants, while the ointment could maintain an already blistered surface. Period indications included pleurisy, pericarditis, chronic painful anatomical joints and neuralgia. These were intended remote effects, not demonstrated cures. The 1864 name is Linimentum Cantharidis; its later renaming as Liquor Epispasticus must not erase the edition difference. Cantharides vinegar and official blistering paper belong to the later additions, rather than this list.[ref]The Essentials of Materia Medica and Therapeutics by Alfred Baring Garrod (1865). Coleoptera, British preparations and distinction from the old London vinegar[ref]British Pharmacopoeia by the General Medical Council (1867). prefatory lists of additions and altered names, pp. xvii–xx
- Iodine, as Linimentum Iodi, Tinctura Iodi and Unguentum Iodi Compositum, was painted or rubbed over chronic swellings, indurations and diseased anatomical joints. The strong liniment could blister; the intended historical effect was alteration of local action or promotion of absorption. Such an indication was not equivalent to proof that a swelling was benign or that it would resolve.[ref]The Essentials of Materia Medica and Therapeutics by Alfred Baring Garrod (1865). iodine, official preparations and external therapeutic uses
- Croton oil, especially Linimentum Crotonis, and tartar emetic, in Unguentum Antimonii Tartarati, produced more persistent irritation and a pustular eruption. They were employed for prolonged counterirritation in chronic pulmonary or other deep-seated complaints when a temporary rubefacient was considered insufficient. Ulceration, scarring and systemic toxicity were substantial disadvantages, not evidence of effective elimination of disease.[ref]The Essentials of Materia Medica and Therapeutics by Alfred Baring Garrod (1865). Euphorbiaceae, croton liniment; tartarated antimony and its ointment
Other official substances could destroy tissue, but a caustic used to destroy a particular lesion is conceptually different from a counterirritant applied to influence another site. Likewise belladonna and aconite applications were principally intended to relieve pain, not simply to create a competing skin inflammation. Modern treatment should address the diagnosed condition; a historical claim of revulsion cannot justify blistering over a diseased heart or lung. The period literature itself recognised absorption, urinary irritation and sloughing from cantharides. No present-day use of a particular regulated skin preparation makes these broad historical indications valid.[ref]
The Essentials of Materia Medica and Therapeutics by Alfred Baring Garrod (1865). Coleoptera, precautions and toxic effects