Du Mez—The Galenical Oleoresins. 
925 
From a comparison of the above data with those obtained by 
Trimble (See table 4), it would appear that acetone is equally 
as serviceable as ether in the preparation of the official oleo¬ 
resins. Such appears, also, to have been the opinion of the Re¬ 
vision Committee of the United States Pharmacopoeia of 1900, 
as the edition, which became official in 1905, directed that acetone 
be employed in the manufacture of those oleoresins which were 
formerly required to be prepared with ether. 1 That this change 
was unsatisfactory is evidenced by the numerous comments 
on the subject occurring in the literature, and by the fact that 
ether is again directed to be used for this purpose in the ninth 
revised edition of the United States Pharmacopoeia. 
To those unacquainted with the situation, the above action of 
the Revision Committee of 1910, might be taken to indicate that 
the matter of the proper solvent to be employed in the manu¬ 
facture of these preparations has been definitely settled and the 
superiority of ether in this respect firmly established. A close 
inspection of the preceding reports, along with other informa¬ 
tion of a similar nature occuring in the literature, would,, how¬ 
ever, appear to point out, that, as in the case of the oleoresin of 
cubeb, other solvents might be advantageously employed in the 
preparation of certain of these individuals. In this connection 
the use of benzin, 2 ) or better, petroleum ether, 3 ) in the prepara¬ 
tion of the oleoresins of capsicum and parsley fruit might be 
mentioned, or the employment of acetone in the preparation of 
the oleoresin of ginger.. 4 ) As further evidence of the possibil¬ 
ities along this line, attention is also called to the experiments 
of Wollenweber (1906) on the extraction of aspidium with ben¬ 
zene, and to the mention of chloroform 5 ) and carbon tetra¬ 
chloride 6 ) as solvents for the preparation of the oleoresins in 
general. 
The manner in which these solvents have been employed in 
*The most important factor in determining this change was probably the 
difference in cost of the two solvents at the time (1900), acetone being the 
cheaper. This statement is confirmed in a measure by the fact that now, 
since the price of ether has been reduced, owing to its preparation from 
denatured alcohol, it is again the solvent officially recognized. 
2 See preceding reports by Trimble, Beringer and others. 
8 Hyers (1895) also made use of petroleum ether in extracting cubeb. 
4 Idris (1898) stated that he found acetone, b. p. 65° C, to be the most 
suitable solvent for extracting ginger. 
• Dorvault, L’Officine (1898), p. 591. 
•Lucas, Practical Pharmacy (1908), p. 149. 
