Tinctura Myrrhae. U. S., Br. Tincture of Myrrh. Tr. Myrrh.
Related entries: Myrrh
Teinture (alcoole) de Myrrhe, Fr. Cod.; Tinctura Myrrhae, P. G.; Myrrhentinktur, G.; Tintura di mirra. It.; Tintura alcoholica de mirra, Sp.
"Myrrh, in moderately coarse powder, two hundred grammes [or 7 ounces av., 24 grains], to make one thousand mils [or 33 fluidounces, 6 ½ fluidrachms]. Prepare a Tincture by Type Process M, using alcohol as the solvent." U. S.
"Myrrh, in coarse powder, 200 grammes; Alcohol (90 per cent.), sufficient to produce 1000 millilitres. Macerate the Myrrh with eight hundred millilitres of the Alcohol in a closed vessel for seven days, shaking occasionally; filter; pass sufficient of the Alcohol through the filter to produce the required volume." Br.
The strength of this tincture was increased 60 per cent. at the revision of the British Pharmacopoeia (1898) and is now equivalent to the U. S. preparation.
Official alcohol is preferable to diluted alcohol as a solvent of myrrh, because it forms a perfectly clear tincture, which is not attainable with the latter menstruum. The addition of water to the tincture renders it turbid. According to E. B. Shuttleworth (A. J. P., xliii, 369), the gum which is left behind in making the tincture may be utilized for making mucilage. The tincture of myrrh is used solely as a local application to stimulate indolent and foul ulcers, spongy gums, aphthous sore mouth, and ulcerations of the throat.
Dose, from fifteen to thirty minims (0.9-1.8 mils).
