MEDICAL STUDIES 27 



may not know the meanings of these words, so I 

 venture to give them. Tea is an "infusion," made 

 by pouring boiling water on the tea and allowing it 

 to stand. Coffee is, or would be a " decoction" if 

 made by boiling the mixture. Infusions and decoc- 

 tions are cheap forms of medicine, suitable for 

 hospitals where they are made daily, but they soon 

 spoil when kept. "Tinctures" are made by pouring 

 spirits of wine instead of water on the drugs ; they 

 keep indefinitely, but are more costly, and therefore 

 rarely used in hospitals. ''Extracts" are made by 

 boiling down decoctions. 



All this is easily done when the proper simple 

 apparatus and means of heating are at hand. I 

 once made an extract as an experiment that I re- 

 commend to the notice of students who may wish to 

 taste the ne plus idtra of bitterness. It was from 

 quassia, that curious tree of South America, of which 

 the very chips are bitter. The once well-known " bitter 

 cup " is made of quassia wood. When water is poured 

 into the cup, it quickly becomes bitter. Quassia is a 

 valuable tonic medicine, with perhaps the one fault 

 of cheapness. An apothecary can hardly be expected 

 to feel easy in conscience when he charges apothe- 

 cary's prices for what every little chip of a timber tree 

 affords when put into hot water. Anyhow, I made a 

 large jugful of decoction of quassia and boiled it 

 down until a sticky residue was left, which is, or might 

 be, called "quassine." I put a piece of it about the 

 size of a pin's head upon my tongue, and then oh 

 then ! Try it, if you doubt its absolute bitterness. 



It was amusing at first to make pills. The pill 

 mass had to be brayed together in a mortar, occasion- 



