Du Mez—The Galenical Oleoresins. 
1021 
1) For a description of the drug, see pag 1017 under “Drug 
used, its collection, preservation, etc.” 
2) The editions of the Pharmacopoeia previous to that of 1900 
directed that the drug be reduced to a fine powder (No. 60) 
for percolation. As a No. 40 powder has been found to be 
equally satisfactory for this purpose, the last two editions 
of the Pharmacopoeia have specified the use of the coarser 
powder. 
3) Ether is the solvent which is directed to be used in the ex¬ 
traction of the drug at the present time. Previous editions of 
the Pharmacopoeia, with the exception of that 1900, also, speci¬ 
fied the use of ether for this purpose. The use of acetone as di¬ 
rected by the Pharmacopoeia of 1900 was unsatisfactory as the 
large amount of extractive matter obtained caused the residue 
which remained upon the evaporation of the solvent to assume a 
semi-solid gelatinous form, and thus increased the difficulty 
of separating the liquid portion. 
Among the other solvents which have received considera¬ 
tion in this connection, benzin is worthy of mention. The re¬ 
ports of Maisch, Trimble and Beringer, respectively, (see 
part I, pages 923 and 924) indicate that it is a good solvent for 
the oleoresinous constituents of capsicum and that the pro¬ 
duct obtained is equal in quality to that yielded by ether. 
Experiments conducted in the laboratory confirm these ob¬ 
servations. The solvent used in the laboratory, however, was 
petroleum ether, boiling temp. 45 to 50° C., as the composition 
of ordinary commercial benzin varies to a considerable extent. 
4) The Pharmacopoeia of 1860 directed that the extraction 
of the drug be carried out in an ordinary glass percolator. As 
a considerable amount of solvent was lost under these condi¬ 
tions, the subsequent editions of the Pharmacopoeia have 
specified that a form of percolator adapted to the use of vola¬ 
tile liquids be employed for this purpose. For a description 
of such forms, see Part I, under “Apparatus used.” 
5.) Of interest in connection with the preparation of this 
oleoresin is the fact that the pharmacopoeial directions con¬ 
cerning the amount of percolate to be collected have been 
changed no less than three times. The first change appeared 
in the Pharmacopoeia of 1880, and was apparently instituted 
for economic reasons as the amount of percolate directed to 
