Linimentum Terebinthinae Compositum.—Compound Liniment of Turpentine.

Botanical name: 

Oleum Terebinthinae (U. S. P.)—Oil of Turpentine

SYNONYM: White liniment.

Preparation.—Take of rose-water, 2 ½ fluid ounces; yolk of egg, 1; oil of turpentine, 3 fluid ounces; oil of lemon, ½ fluid drachm; pyroligneous acid (or in its absence acetic acid), 1 fluid ounce. To the yolk slowly add the rose-water, and rub together in a mortar, then add the turpentine and oil of lemon. Pour the mixture into a pint bottle, and agitate to mix thoroughly; then add the acid, and agitate quickly and briskly. It must be kept well corked.

Action and Medical Uses.—Used in asthma and inflammation of the lungs, rubbing it on the throat and chest with a sponge or cloth, from the epiglottic region to the epigastric; also useful whenever a counter-irritant is required.

Related Preparation.—The National Formulary gives the following formula and name: LINIMENTUM TEREBENTHINAE ACETICUM (N. F.), Acetic turpentine liniment, Linimentum album, Stokes' liniment, St. John Long's liniment.—"Oil of turpentine, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl℥, 183♏]; fresh egg, albumen and yolk, one (1); oil of lemon, four cubic centimeters (4 Cc.) [65♏]; acetic acid (U. S. P.), twenty cubic centimeters (20 Cc.) [325♏]; rosewater (U. S. P.), eighty-five cubic centimeters (85 Cc.) [2 fl℥, 420♏]. Triturate or beat the contents of the fresh egg with the oil of turpentine and the oil of lemon in a mortar until they are thoroughly mixed. Then incorporate the acetic acid and rose-water. Shake the mixture, whenever any of it is to be dispensed"—(Nat. Form.).

As this last preparation bears the same name as the Br. Pharm. Linimentum Terebinthinae Aceticum (glacial acetic acid, 1 fluid part; liniment of camphor and oil of turpentine, each, 4 fluid parts; mix), the two should not be confounded with each other. Acetic turpentine liniment is rubefacient and vesicatory. It may be applied to relieve localized pains or inflammatory swellings, and has been found useful in neuralgia and muscular rheumatism, and is a counter-irritant in gastric inflammations to allay irritation and vomiting.


King's American Dispensatory, 1898, was written by Harvey Wickes Felter, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D.