162 
INFUSUM CINCHONA SPISSATUM. 
mixtures are usually prescribed, therefore this also would be inadmissible for 
dispensing purposes. 
Undoubtedly, in some establishments, lemon-juice is preserved in the manner 
I am about to mention, but it is quite certain that in very many it is not; and 
they either follow one of the above practices, or make the necessary delay of pro¬ 
curing and pressing lemons, and straining the juice when required. 
The process Mr. Alsop recommends* and Dr. Redwood has frequently ad¬ 
vocated for the preservation of infusions, applies equally to lemon-juice, viz. 
heating to the boiling-point, and excluding the air by carefully closing the full 
bottles at this temperature. Thus prepared it keeps well for more than twelve 
months, but early last winter I made some experiments to ascertain if ebullition 
were really necessary, and I find it is not; juice heated only to 150° and excluded 
from the air at that temperature, is now in a perfect state of preservation. I 
cannot say, however, that this holds good if it be bottled during the summer 
months; in fact, my experience indicates otherwise. 
This might arise from the juice, when expressed, being in an incipient state of 
change, as it is well known that lemons are very prone to decay at this season, 
and microscopic organisms being in a more vitally active condition than during 
the winter, are probably capable of sustaining a high temperature for a short 
period; and thus, although the heat applied might retard, it does not totally 
destroy the tendency to decomposition. 
If a little care is exercised, stoppers or perforated corks are unnecessary, com¬ 
mon corks answer quite well; and for covering the tops of these (when cut off), 
I think bees’-wax will be found superior to sealing-wax, as it adheres firmly and 
is not so liable to crack. 
I would then suggest, that if a ten or twelve months’ stock of lemon-juice is 
thus bottled at a temperature not necessarily above 150° during the winter , the 
dispenser would be enabled without delay to send it out in a state even superior 
to that freshly obtained from the fruits ; and this being generally adopted would 
give satisfaction both to prescriber and patient. 
Charles Symf.s. 
Leamington , Sept. 12, 1868. 
INFUSUM CINCHONA SPISSATUM. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
I have more than twenty times made the above preparation ; have always 
used Aqua Destillata, but on one occasion only have 1 noticed to any extent the 
deposition of Ivinate of Lime. In this instance it formed around the bottle in 
large, well-defined, semi-opaque crystals ; there was none of the usual deposit of 
extraneous matter after standing the twenty days. 
The bark employed was a fair sample of Calisaya ; fracture rather too stringy 
for that description of Cinchona, although sold as such. It did not yield more 
than two-thirds the amount of liquor (and that very pale in colour) I have gene ¬ 
rally obtained from the same weight of bark. In making this preparation, it 
will be found most economical to use the finest and largest bark, as an equal 
weight of the technically-called “small large bark” yields considerably less ex¬ 
tractive to water, and tins you find out in working to a specific gravity.f 
* See Vol. i., p. 5S, 1st senes. 
f It' specific gravity were insisted on in making certain tinctures, such as opium, digitalis, 
hyoscyamus, etc., it would tend greatly to regulate their strength; the last-named tincture 
(biennial leaves always used, et caetcris paribus), I have found to vary considerably in 
density. Tinctures of this class can be well made by percolation, and with a little manage¬ 
ment a uniform density, which I take to be the best criterion of strength . can always be 
ensured. 
