THE JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY. 57 



■will not have this bright appearance and will require filtration, which is 

 not to be advised in the making of vanilla extract. We then allow this 

 mixture to macerate 30 days more and, at the expiration of that time, 

 transfer the whole to a Squibb's percolator and cover with a muslin dia- 

 phragm. After the liquid with which it has been standing has been run 

 through, add a menstruum made of 9 pints of water and 12 pints of spirits. 

 The percolate will yield an excellent tincture or extract of vanilla, perfectly 

 bright and clear and ready for use. It is advisable to keep this in wood 

 for six months, but, of course, it can. be used at any time. There is no 

 method to be followed which will yield a satisfactory product in a few days, 

 anil, therefore, the pharmacist must anticipate his wants at least 60 days 

 in advance. 



Never try to make use of a bean which has been in a bundle a part of 

 which has become mouldy. If one bean in the bundle is mouldy, the whole 

 becomes contaminated, although it may not appear so, and an extract 

 made from a bean taken from the centre of a bundle which is mouldy on 

 the outside, but in itself apparently untainted, will have a mouldy taste,^ and 

 all the perfumes from Arabia will not sweeten it. I had hoped to present a 

 sample made from such a bean, but an accident while preparing it prevents 

 my doing so. The artificial product vanillin, while rendering very good 

 service in the making of perfumes, in which it has the advantage over the 

 bean in the absence of color, can never displace as a flavoring extract, 

 despite assertions to the contrary. It lacks the delicate flavor of the natural 

 bean, and if it be identical with the vanillin as it exists in the bean, we must 

 then conclude that it alone is not the essential factor in a good vanilla ex- 

 tract. 



To make good syrup for the soda fountain is an easy matter if we have 

 a good extract to work from. The proportion which I have used is 3 ounces 

 extract to the gallon of simple syrup. Vanillin is wholly out of place at 

 the soda fountain. The manufacturers claim that, while we allow an ex- 

 tract made from the bean to stand for months before using, we make one 

 up from vanillin, use it as soon as prepared, and expect it to compare with 

 the true bean. They say, give it age, use syrup, not glycerine, and it will 

 equal the best bean. I do not agree with them, and will only believe it 

 when 1 actually see one made from vanillin which will equal that prepared 

 from the bean according to the formula which 1 have <nven vou. 



South China Exports. — In the Pharmaceutical Journal for January 15, 

 may be found a communication by Dr. Augustine. Henry, entitled "Some 

 Exports of South China and Indo-China," in which he treats of the cassias, 

 camphor and star anise. The article is concluded by some remarks on the 

 "needs of economic botany," in which the author points out the great im- 

 portance of the careful collection by travelers of tangible evidence as to 

 the origin of the commercial products which they encounter. 



