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4:16  ON  A  NEW  PREPARATION  OF  LUPIJLIN. 
maticse  is  mixed  with  it,  and  water  subsequently  be  added,  a  good 
solution  is  formed,  pleasant-looking,  though  not  quite  clear.  I 
have  devised  another  preparation  which,  I  think  will  prove  most 
useful  whenever  it  is  desired  to  use  the  hop.  It  is  an  ammoniated 
tincture,  and  should  be  made  in  the  same  way  as  the  other 
ammoniated  tinctures  of  the  Pharmacopoeia.  Like  valerian,  which 
also  contains  an  oil  and  a  resin,  lupulin  is  best  exhausted  by  the 
aromatic  spirit  of  ammonia,  and  the  reason  for  this  appears  to 
be  that  this  preparation  contains  the  combination  of  alkali  and 
rectified  spirit  necessary  to  the  solution  of  the  various  elements 
in  these  drugs.  Certainly  no  agent  that  I  have  tried  extracts 
the  virtues  of  lupulin  so  well  as  sal-volatile.  The  result  is  a 
strong  richly-colored  tincture.  Neither  rectified  spirit,  aether, 
nor,  of  course,  proof  spirit  produce  so  strong  a  preparation.* 
I  recommend  the  following  formula: — Lupulin,  2  oz.,  spir. 
ammon.  arom.,  a  pint :  macerate  for  seven  days,  agitating  occa- 
sionally, then  filter  and  add  sufiicient  menstruum  to  make  up  to 
a  pint.f  The  dose  of  this  is  from  20  to  fl.  3j.  I  propose  to 
call  it  "  tinctura  lupulinse  ammoniata." 
I  have  no  hesitation  in  directing  attention  to  this  preparation 
of  the  hop  as  the  best  we  at  present  possess.  According  to 
Christison,  the  dose  of  tinctura  lupuli  should  be  fl.  ^j.  to  fl.  giss 
to  produce  any  hypnotic  eff'ect ;  the  ordinary  dose  consists  of  as 
many  drachms.  Dr.  Ives,  of  New  York,  states  that  the  tincture 
of  lupulin  is  an  efi'ectual  hypnotic  in  restlessness,  the  result  of 
nervous  irritability,  and  in  delirium  tremens. J  Some  advantage 
too,  is  derived  from  the  presence  of  ammonia  in  considerable 
quantity,  and  this  whether  the  preparation  be  exhibited  as  a 
hypnotic,  or  as  a  tonic  combination  of  bitter  and  ammonia. — 
Pharm.  Journ.^  London^  Oct,,  1868. 
*  According  to  Rojle,  the  active  properties  of  lupulin  are  completely 
extracted  by  spirit.  I  am  inclined  to  doubt  this.  He  recommends  a 
tincture  of  it,  however,  in  preference  to  tinct.  lupuli. 
t  A  specimen  of  it  was  exhibited  in  the  Annual  Museum  of  the  British 
Medical  Association  at  Oxford,  in  August  last.  Mr.  Hall,  of  Wigmore 
Street,  who  made  this  for  me,  recommends  that  percolation  should  not  be 
employed. 
X  Vide  American  Codex,  also  Nevias'  Transl.  of  Lond.  Pharm.  1851. 
