Du Mez—The Galenical Oleoresins. 
913 
PART I — GENERAL 
Historical Introduction 
The type of galenical preparation now known as an oleoresin 
has been official in the United States Pharmacopoeia since 1850, 
the oleoresins of cnbeb and pepper being the first members of 
this class of preparations to receive recognition, however, under 
the title of fluid extract. 
The suggestion for the name oleoresin appears to have come 
from Buchner though first applied as the name of a galenical 
by Peschier. The latter, in 1825, had prepared an ethereal 
extract of male fern which he designated Huile de Fong ere Male, 
To this name, Buchner objected, suggesting the title Extractum 
resinosum. In reporting Peschier’s work, however, Buchner 
speaks of the constituents of the ethereal extract as the oelharzige 
Bestandtheile of male fern, and later in his account, he refers to 
the finished preparation as the oelharziges Extract , i. e. an 
oleoresinous extract. It would appear, therefore, that when 
Peschier, in his second account (1828), speaks of an oleoresine, 
our English oleoresin, he evidently took his suggestion from 
Buchner’s use of the German attribute, oelharzig. 
The suggestion of Buchner, that the above mentioned pre¬ 
paration of male fern be called an extract, appears to have met 
with general favor throughout Europe as is indicated by its title 
in the various European pharmacopoeias, past and present. 
Likewise, such other members of this class of preparations as 
have received recognition in the European countries are to be 
found in the respective pharmacopoeias of these countries under 
the heading, extracta. In the United States, a latinized form 
of Peschier’s title, oleoresine, has been adopted and these pre¬ 
parations are officially known as oleorsinae. 
The following table of titles will give a fair idea of the early 
development of the synonymy of these preparations: 
