40 Botanic Drugs 



concentrated decoctions or weak alcoholic extracts 

 made in vacuum pans and with just sufficient alcohol 

 added to prevent fermentation but not precipi- 

 tation. 3 



Of course, there are careful manufacturers who 

 are making good fluidextracts, assayed and physio- 

 logically standardized wherever possible; and these 

 makers are quite inclined to make products guar- 

 anteed to be of United States Pharmacopeia standard 

 but not always made by United States Pharmacopeia 

 processes. 



is cheaper to extract a drug quickly in a heated 

 ( vacuum pan than by slow percolation and re- 

 \ percolation, using a sufficient percentage of alcohol. 

 /^ Cheap fluidextracts are the real basis for a lot of 

 ^ ] therapeutic nihilism. But United States Pharma- 

 copeia processes are improving, from revision to re- 

 vision, and fluidextracts are being better made than 

 I they were a few years ago, at least by representative 

 houses. 



Physicians care little for the nomenclature of 

 finished drug extracts, and they are not at all in- 

 terested in maintaining processes simply because 

 they serve the purposes of the retail pharmacist. 

 We want our tinctures and extracts of botanic drugs 

 to be thoroughly representative; and this requires 

 the use of a highly alcoholic menstruum, extrac- 

 tion with the minimum of heat or none at all, the 

 use of good crudes in proper condition, the proper 

 employment of assay and physiologic standardiza- 

 tion processes, and careful storage and packing of 

 honestly labeled products. 



United States Pharmacopeia extracts are, of 



'See remarks under "Improving Conditions" at close of this section. 



