Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
September,  1908.  J 
United  States  Pharmacopoeia. 
435 
Fluidextracts. — In  the  formulas  for  fluidextracts  much  useless 
waste  of  space  can  be  saved  by  the  adoption  of  general  processes 
and  the  direction  to  use  alcohol  of  a  given  percentage. 
Fluidextract  of  buchu  should  be  made  with  alcohol  as  a  men- 
struum, which  yields  a  preparation  in  which  the  oil  and  resin  does 
not  separate  as  in  the  present  official  formula,  with  a  menstruum  of 
alcohol  3,  water  i. 
Fluidextract  of  Cascara  Sagrada  is  best  made  with  an  aqueous 
menstruum  and  the  concentrated  percolate  preserved  by  the  addi- 
tion of  25  per  cent,  of  alcohol. 
Fluidextract  of  Squill  does  not  fully  represent  the  drug,  as  no 
attempt  is  made  to  secure  complete  extraction. 
Fluidextract  of  Glycyrrhiza  is  not  satisfactory  and  the  writer  has 
proposed  an  improved  formula  (see  Proceedings  of  New  Jersey 
Pharmaceutical  Association,  1905,  fol.  75)  the  product  of  which 
keeps  well  as  shown  by  samples  on  hand  of  portions  of  a  lot  made 
more  than  three  years  ago. 
Fluidextract  of  Senna. — The  preliminary  percolation  of  the  drug 
with  alcohol  is  expensive  as  it  is  very  wasteful  of  alcohol,  and  is 
likewise  of  doubtful  utility.  The  griping  tendency  of  senna  can  be 
more  economically  and  effectively  overcome  by  the  addition  of  a 
small  amount  of  a  carminative,  such  as  the  oils  of  coriander  or 
fennel. 
Liquor  Cresolis  Compositus. — The  drug  journals  have  contained 
numerous  articles  expressing  difficulty  with  this  preparation.  This 
is  an  example  of  a  good  formula  spoiled  by  faulty  directions  for 
manipulation.1  The  official  directions  for  soft  soap  very  properly 
direct  that  the  linseed  oil  be  saponified  by  the  potassium  hydroxide 
in  solution  with  the  aid  of  heat  and  the  addition  oi  a  small  quantity 
of  alcohol.  Yet  in  compound  solution  of  cresol,  which  is  only  a 
fifty  per  cent,  solution  of  cresol  and  soft  soap,  it  is  directed  that  the 
linseed  oil  shall  be  saponified  cold  and  without  any  alcohol.  If  the 
official  method  for  making  soft  soap  be  carried  out  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  compound  solution  of  cresol,  there  will  be  no  trouble  in 
obtaining  a  satisfactory  product.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  British 
Pharmaceutical  Codex  has  exactly  followed  this  suggestion  in 
copying  the  formula. 
Compound  Syrup  of  Sarsaparilla  would  be  improved  by  increasing 
the  quantity  of  essential  oils  of  sassafras,  anise  and  gaultheria  from 
