Brandy in the Pharmacopoeia according to the Eighth Edition of the United States Pharmacopoeia brandy should have the following properties: The Pharmacopœial name is Spiritus Vini Gallici. Definition: An alcoholic liquid obtained by the distillation of the fermented, unmodified juice of fresh grapes. The following remarks are then made in the Pharmacopoeia:

A pale amber-colored liquid, having a distinctive odor and taste, and a slightly acid reaction.

Brandy should be at least four years old.

Its specific gravity should be not more than 0.941, nor less than 0.925 at 15.6°C. (60°F.), corresponding, approximately, to an alcoholic strength of 39 to 47 per cent. by weight, or 46 to 55 per cent. by volume, of absolute alcohol (see Appendix, Alcohol Tables, page 604).

"If 100 c.c. of Brandy be slowly evaporated in a tared dish on a water-bath, the last portions volatilized should have an agreeable odor free from harshness (absence of fusel oil from grain or potato spirit); and the residue, when dried at 100°C. (212°F.), should not weigh more than 0.5 Gm. This residue should have no sweet or distinctly spicy taste (absence of added sugar, glycerin, and aromatic substances), and it should almost completely dissolve in 10 c.c. of cold water, forming a solution which is colored not deeper than light green by a few drops of ferric chloride T. S. diluted with 10 volumes of water (absence of more than traces of oak tannin from casks).

If 50 c.c. of Brandy be shaken vigorously in a stoppered flask with 25 Gm. of kaolin, and, after standing half an hour, be filtered, the color of the filtrate should not be much lighter than that of the Brandy before treatment (absence of caramel coloring).

To render 100 c.c. of Brandy distinctly alkaline to litmus, not more than 1 c.c. of normal potassium hydroxide V. S. should be required (limit of free acid).

Both brandy and whisky were omitted from the Ninth Revision of the United States Pharmacopoeia issued Sept. 1, 1916. This omission was due to the fact that a great majority of physicians testified that they were no longer sufficiently important as medicines to warrant retaining them in the Pharmacopoeia. The supposed medicinal virtues of brandy and whisky are found to be illusionary by modern medical experience.