•September 14, 1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
217 
dram measures cylindrical, you will save a great deal in 
the course of the year. 
Mr. Giles : Mr. Stoddart has referred to the 
preparation of the tincture of ginger. I have been 
troubled with the puffing which takes place in the marc 
when you place on the water. ' I have always been 
obliged to put on a certain amount of water which displaces 
the spirit, and then it forms a muck, and this I have to 
take off with a spoon, then putting on more spirit. 
Professor Markoe : The remarks made by the last 
speaker express the American idea. That is the practice 
we have been following a long time. Percolation alone is 
practised in the United States. We consider that macera¬ 
tion is a thing of the past, and that percolation is the 
process for every drug. Of course with tincture of tolu and 
resin guaiacum, and so forth, maceration is used, but 
for everything else percolation. We insist in every case 
on having a perfectly uniform powder, be it coarse or 
fine. We take the position that the mixture of a fine 
powder with ligneous particles is entirely wrong. We 
consider that to turn back a portion of the tincture into 
the percolator is exceedingly bad practice, and we make 
it a practice that the first drops shall be as clear as the 
last. We always carry the percolation to exhaustion. 
We employ fine powders sifted through a sieve of 20 
meshes to the inch, and never use the English method 
•of saturating the drug with the menstruum. Suppose 
we are working with a pound of the drug, we moisten 
that in the hand with about one-fourth of the menstruum. 
This will give a damp powder that will slightly cohere, 
but will never become pasty. A pasty mass will never 
properly pack; cylindrical-percolators we think the best, 
but there are many cases in which the conical percola¬ 
tion is used because of certain advantages. For instance, 
in making fluid extract of gentian which is liable to 
swell, it would be totally impossible to percolate through 
a cylinder. If we use a conical percolator, as the sub¬ 
stance swells, the slanting sides of the funnel allow it to 
relieve itself, and it is not a difficult matter to percolate 
gentian with a powder as fine as 50 or 60 meshes to the 
inch. Percolation has been carried in the United 
States to a degree of refinement that is scarcely known 
in Great Britain, for the reason that the most popular 
class of preparations are those known as the fluid extracts; 
these liquids being made of such a strength that each 
minim shall represent the soluble active principle of one 
grain of the drug, and one wine ounce shall represent 
one troy ounce of the drug. As many drugs are injured 
by heat, our aim is to avoid subsequent evaporation. We 
consider it poor work on the part of a pharmacist if, 
taking 16 ounces, we are not able to practically exhaust 
it by the time we have got three wine pints of the men¬ 
struum. We use the finest powders we can get. The 
tendency has been to use a menstruum as strongly alcoholic 
as possible, and to push through whatever remains of 
the drug. Merely to make up the measure with water, 
displacing all the contained menstruum is very easily 
done. When the percolation is done, you just scrape off 
the pulpy mass. The moment the water is added, it 
swells up into a mucilaginous mass, and after a little 
time the percolation stops. It is the practice of several 
large manufacturers who work on a large scale to go on 
percolating and exhausting with alcohol, trusting to the 
use of pressing to press out as much of the menstruum 
as possible, and keeping it to be used next time the pre¬ 
paration is made. Then, in order to recover what 
alcohol remains after pressure, the mass is thrown into a 
largo steam-still, mixed with plenty of water, and the 
alcohol recovered that way. 
Professor Wayne : I have very large percolations to 
make, and it is very necessary to obtain all the alcohol 
•that has been used in percolation. By the use of water 
y r ou obtain very readily a mucilaginous mass which it is 
very difficult to percolate, and which gives you an 
immense amount of trouble. My method is to use an 
alcoholic menstruum until my substance is completely 
exhausted. I afterwards distil the magma, using the 
alcohol in the next percolation of the same substance. 
I find by that means great economy of time. It requires 
a very long time if water is used ; and long before the 
point has arrived the root becomes mucilaginous, and 
water will no longer pass through it; or in warm weather 
fermentation will set up and acetic acid be formed. 
Mr. Umney : Mr. Stoddart remarked in his paper that 
the contact of the water when put upon the marc to 
displace the alcohol was merely skin deep. This is 
contrary to my experience. Let it be required for 
instance to recover alcohol of 56 over proof (-838) from 
a marc by displacement with water. It will be found 
upon examining the products after rectification that the 
strength will range from 56 to 40 or 20 over proof, to 
considerably under proof ('920), therefore, I imagine, to 
say that the mixing is only shin deep is incorrect. 
Mr. Stoddart : In replying to what has been said, I 
can only say that facts are stubborn things, and the 
tinctures have been made twice over this way, therefore 
it can be done. With regard to Mr. ITaselden’s tincture 
of senna, tincture of cardamoms, and tincture of orange- 
peel, they are all three substances which do not easily 
powder. The raisins were, of course, the difficulty, but 
they were smashed up in a mortar; and you will find there 
is sufficent of the dry ingredients to suck up the men¬ 
struum, and you can actually sift them through a coarso 
sieve about twenty meshes to the inch. If you repeat 
these experiments, do not use any diaphragm whatever. 
I would wish that if anybody in the kingdom intends to 
repeat my experiments he should use nothing but a tube, 
and tie over a bit of muslin at the bottom. As to what 
Mr. Giles has said about the ginger, all I can say is that 
I get the ginger into a measure, put on the spirit, and stir 
it up with a spatula, and then put it on the muslin and 
wait till the ginger has settled, I then have a clear 
liquid. 
Mr. Giles : Don't you find that water put on tho 
powder forms a mucilaginous magma ? 
Mr. Stoddart : I am coming to that. You first of 
all stir up the ginger with the spatula and then pour it 
into the percolator. Let the spirit run through, and 
leave the top dry. Then you put on exactly the quan¬ 
tity of water that is deficient, and leave it and go to 
sleep if you like. It does not disturb the top at all; 
but there will be a dark brown ring, which is the skin- 
deep mixture which I mentioned. Tincture of myrrh 
is one of the 26, which are simple solutions. We made 
it by percolation. As to Professor Markoe, he must 
forgive me if I disagree with him altogether. Ho says, 
first of all moisten the powder, and if there is a swelling 
of the magma, use a conical percolator. Now, if you 
let it loose into a conical percolator, you undo my expe¬ 
riment. It has been said that it is impossible to make 
tincture of gentian in the way I have described. Well, 
I have done it. I will give you a very easy experiment 
which any one may try. Get some ground coffee and 
stir it up with water till it comes into a “muck,” as 
Mr. Giles calls it. It must be just so liquid that 
the muck, when put down into the percolator, will run 
of its own accord. Then if you put a pint of water 
you wall have your extract of coffee in magnificent style, 
and if you are economical, put another pint of water on 
the top, and you will get a liquid of about a third of the 
strength of the first. 
The Bell and Hills’ Fund. 
The President then said that the question of the 
appropriation of Mr. Hills’ last gift to the Conference 
had occupied the attention of the Executive Committee 
at a meeting held that morning, and they had instructed 
him to place before the Conference their view, I he 
Executive Committee recommend to the annual meeting 
that the following be laid down as the general financial 
