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THE  PROPER  STRENGTH  OF  FLUID  EXTRACTS. 
Attention  has  been  recalled  to  this  subject  by  a  paper  of  Mr. 
C.  Lewis  Diehl,  in  the  Pharmacist  of  June,  wherein  he  advocates 
the  reduction  of  the  entire  list  of  fluid  extracts  to  the  proportion 
of  8  trojounces  to  the  pint,  in  order  that  they  may  be  made  by 
repercolation  (or,  as  he  prefers  to  call  it,  "  fractional  percola- 
tion,") so  as  to  avoid  evaporation  altogether  or  nearly  so. 
Now  in  regard  to  repercolation  I  appreciate  its  advantages  in 
saving  menstruum,  especially  in  reference  to  the  solid  extracts, 
and  have  no  objection  to  any  pharmaceutist  who  is  qualified  to 
use  the  method  to  do  so,  for  either  solid  or  fluid  extracts,  but 
must  earnestly  protest  against  putting  such  complex  manipula- 
tion into  our  pharmacopoeia,  (except  in  special  instances  that 
might  be  exceptional)  in  a  class  of  formulas  so  large  and  fre- 
quently used  as  the  extracts  and  fluid  extracts,  and  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  simple  percolation,  which  itself,  after  twenty  years 
tutelage  the  mass  of  pharmaceutists  of  the  United  States  are 
only  just  getting  to  understand  properly.  It  is  well  known 
that  in  the  reservation  of  the  first  portion  of  percolates  in  some 
officinal  processes  the  proper  time  of  fractioning  is  often  ne- 
glected. What  then  would  be  the  condition  of  a  working  labora- 
tory, when  each  fluid  extract  would  require  half  a  dozen  kinds 
of  percolates,  each  of  which  would  require  measuring  and  regis- 
tering. Dr.  Squibb,  Mr.  Diehl,  and  others  may  do  this  and 
keep  on  the  track,  but  of  the  numerous  body  of  operators 
who  figure  in  pharmacy,  a  large  number  could  not  be  trusted 
with  repercolation  who  might  be  competent  to  perform  a  simple 
officinal  process. 
We  hope,  for  these  reasons,  that  the  final  committee  of  revision 
and  publication,  to  be  appointed  in  May,  1870,  will  be  sufficient- 
ly conservative  to  avoid  so  great  a  mistake  as  the  adoption  of  re- 
percolation as  the  ordinary  process  of  extraction  for  fluid  and 
solid  extracts,  and  it  is  equally  to  be  desired  that  they  retain 
the  proportion  of  grain  to  minim. 
After  thus  speaking  against  repercolation  as  a  pharmacopoeia 
process,  it  is  with  pleasure,  and  but  just  that  we  should  express 
our  admiration  of  that  process  as  a  refinement  of  percolation, 
that  may  be  used  by  any  qualified  operator  on  any  suitable  oc- 
casion, and  for  the  manufacturing  pharmacist  it  has  merits  that 
will  doubtless  call  it  into  frequent  use. 
