786 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[March 30, 1872. 
-cohol. This, when subjected to the action of diluted 
.acids, at elevated temperatures, is, similarly to all gluco- 
isides, under the same influence, split up into another 
.compound and glucose. 
The licorice of commerce is mostly derived from 
Spain and Italy. There it is obtained by the crude pro¬ 
cess of boiling the albuminous and starchy root with 
water, and boiling down the infusion in copper vessels 
ito the required consistence. Other inert substances are 
frequently incorporated with a view to adulterate or 
.give it firmness. If the infusion, during the process, 
becomes sour, the glycyrrhizin separates, and eventually 
suffers decomposition by the action of the acid. 
Licorice is much used in medicine; and although me¬ 
dicinally of little importance, yet, however, it is the 
desire of the pharmaceutist to furnish this, as well as all 
-other pharmaceutical products, of the best attainable 
-quality. Commercial licorice always has an acrid, un¬ 
pleasant taste, entirely distinct from the peculiar and 
pleasant flavour of the root. Pharmaceutically, there¬ 
fore, the crude licorice should never be used. In Europe 
it is purified for medicinal purposes, by exhausting 
ihe crude article with cold water and evaporating the 
solution to the proper consistence, which may be in 
Three forms, namely: in powder, pilular extract and 
syrupy liquid. The purified preparations obtained from 
-crude licorice, however, possess its dark colour and bad 
flavour, the insoluble matters only being removed; 
■otherwise, it is no better than at first; even during this 
-operation more of the glycyrrhizin may have been de¬ 
composed. 
It was found that licorice root, w r hen exhausted with 
cold water and the infusion carefully evaporated to dry¬ 
ness, yielded 20 to 25 per cent, of light brown extract, 
having the original flavour of the root, equal to 30 or 35 
per cent, of pilular extract, or 50 per cent, of syrupy 
liquid. 
The liquid preparations of licorice or licorice root 
are mostly aqueous or syrupy, and in a dilute condition 
will not keep without the addition of preservatives. 
These must either be alcohol, glycerin, or saline sub¬ 
stances. The writer, however, discards the first two for 
this purpose in the three preparations of licorice root 
about to be noticed. These are liquid extract of licorice 
Toot, syrup of licorice root and compound syrup of lico¬ 
rice root. Owing to the invariably inferior quality of 
<?rude extract of licorice root, it is the opinion of the 
writer that pharmaceutists should make all the prepara¬ 
tions of the so-called licorice directly from the root. 
This is further supported by the facility with wliich 
they can be obtained from this source. In these pro¬ 
cesses the writer aids the extraction of all the glycyr- 
;rhizin by the addition of more ammonia. The liquid 
-extract of licorice root, when made of the concentration 
-above stated, is very peraianent, and will keep almost 
:any length of time in all seasons of the year. It is a 
purely aqueous solution of pure extract of licorice root, 
intended for dispensing purposes, and the extempo¬ 
raneous preparation of simple syrup of licorice root. 
This latter will not keep long, and must always be made 
fresh as demanded. Compound syrup of licorice root is 
a permanent syrup, of the same strength as the simple 
syrup, and contains ammonium chloride, which preserves 
it. This combination is a very popular cough remedy, 
long and favourably known as Hufland’s German Cough 
Mixture. 
Liquid extract of licorice root is prepared by exhaust¬ 
ing the root in coarse powder by means of percolation 
with a menstruum, consisting of alcohol i or £, and 
water | or £, with about 2 fluid drachms of 16 or 18 per 
•cent, ammonia water in each pint of the mixture. The 
percolate is heated to boiling to precipitate the dissolved 
,-albumen and filtered hot; the residue on the filter is 
washed with hot water and the filtrate evaporated to 
half the weight of the root employed. The process may 
further be stated as follows:— 
Take of Licorice Root in No. 20 or 24 powder, 32 troy 
ounces. 
Alcohol one pint. 
"Water sufficient. 
Water of ammonia (16 or 18 per cent.) l-£ 
fluid ounces. 
Mix the alcohol with 5 pints of w r ater and add the 
ammonia. Moisten the powxler with 6 fluid ounces of 
the mixture, pack firmly in a cylindrical percolator 
forming a column of medium height, and pour on the 
remainder of the mixture, and then water until 6 pints 
of percolate has passed; heat this to the boiling-point 
and filter; wffien the liquid has disappeared from the 
surface mix the residue with a pint of wrater, heat and 
filter; mix the filtrates and evaporate the liquid care¬ 
fully until it weighs 16 troy ounces. 
Syrup of licorice root is prepared as follows : — 
Take of Liquid Extract of Licorice Root one 
drachm. 
Syrup sufficient to make one fluid ounce. 
Mix. 
To make compound syrup of licorice root the writer’s 
first process consisted in exhausting the root with water 
by percolation, boiling the percolate, filtering, evaporat¬ 
ing the excess of liquid, dissolving the ammonium 
chloride and sugar in the residuary liquid with heat, and 
straining whilst hot. 
This method, however, was found too circumstantial. 
The root was then treated by repercolation with water, 
and also with w r ater containing some of the ammonium 
chloride. To the strong percolate the ammonium chloride 
was then added, the quantity used forms a nearly satu¬ 
rated solution of the salt. This at once produces a 
dense resinous precipitate, which rapidly subsides as a 
heavy tenacious mass, insoluble in water but rapidly 
soluble in ammonia or disodic carbonate, and then again 
readily miscible with the saline solution from wliich it 
had separated. It is, therefore, evident that ammonium 
chloride separates the native combination of glycyrrhizin 
from its solution prepared with cold w r ater, and also that 
a sufficiency of ammonia previously added prevents the 
precipitation, probably by forming a more basic salt of 
glycyrrhizin, which is soluble in a saturated solution of 
ammonium chloride. 
From these observations the writer derived the follow¬ 
ing excellent and expeditious process long and success¬ 
fully employed:— 
Take of Licorice Root in No. 24 powder, 32 troy ounces. 
Ammonium chloride in No. 24 powder; suf¬ 
ficient. 
Sugar 65 lbs. avoirdupois. 
Ammonia water (16 or 18 per cent.), 3 fluid 
drachms. 
Water sufficient. 
In 6 pints of waiter dissolve 6 troy ounces of am¬ 
monium chloride and add the water of ammonia, moisten 
the root with 6 fluid ounces of this mixture, pack it 
firmly in a cylindrical percolator and pour on the re¬ 
mainder of the mixture, and then w r ater until 4 pints of 
percolate has passed; in this dissolve 12 troy ounces of 
ammonium chloride, pour part of this solution upon the 
sugar, and w r hen it has crumbled add the remainder; 
stir frequently with a pestle until the sugar has dis¬ 
solved and strain through muslin. No heat is employed 
in this process, and the ammonia is completely saturated. 
The preparation is dark brown and permanently clear 
and transparent.; it contains some albumen, and one 
fluid ounce contains one drachm of ammonium chloride 
and approximately represents 2 drachms of licorice root. 
—Chicago Pharmacist. 
