Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
April,  1910.  / 
Correspondence. 
twenty  different  strengths.  I  am  now  compiling  figures  showing 
amount  of  extraction  in  fluidextract  of  gentian  made  by  reper- 
colation  from  the  same  drug  and  the  discrepancy  in  results  obtained 
so  far  is  extremely  disappointing  to  one  who  has  always  been  a 
staunch  advocate  of  repercolation.  Perhaps,  however,  my  later 
figures  will  prove  more  satisfactory,  but  at  present  I  can  only 
advise  utmost  care  in  packing  of  drug  and  speed  of  percolation, 
and  further  recommend  to  all  making  their  rluidextracts  by  re- 
percolation,  to  compare  the  amount  of  extract  in,  say,  10  c.c.  of 
the  finished  product  with  the  amount  of  extract  obtained  with  same 
menstruum  on  completely  exhausting  10  grammes  of  the  same 
batch  of  drug. 
C.  F.  Nixon,  Ph.G.,  Leominster,  Mass.,  writes:  I  am  afraid 
that  I  am  strongly  biased  in  this  matter,  so  much  so  that  I  can  con- 
ceive of  no  argument  in  favor  of  maceration  where  percolation  is 
possible.  The  objections  to  maceration  as  they  occur  to  me  are  as 
follows : 
1.  The  drug  cannot  be  properly  exhausted  unless  several  frac- 
tional macerations  are  employed  and  this  requires  much  time. 
2.  Drugs  prepared  for  maceration  cannot  be  so  finely  ground 
as  for  percolation,  as  it  would  be  impossible  to  express  the  saturated 
liquid.  For  example,  tincture  of  belladonna,  No.  60  powder,  could 
not  possibly  be  made  by  maceration. 
3.  Maceration  must  be  accompanied  by  expression,  and  the 
amount  of  pressure  used  has  a  direct  influence  on  the  finished 
product.  It  would  be  impossible,  however,  to  direct  the  amount 
of  pressure  used  for  each  drug,  and  the  results  could  not  be 
uniform. 
4.  Unless  much  pressure  is  used  there  is  a  greater  loss  of  men- 
struum. 
5.  It  appears  to  me  an  uncleanly  and  unscientific  process. 
6.  The  product  must  be  filtered.  In  many  instances  this  would 
be  a  slow  and  difficult  proceeding,  as  fine  particles  pass  through 
in  the  process  of  expression  that  would  clog  the  filter. 
I  believe  that  the  adoption  of  maceration  would  be  a  long  step 
backward. 
May  I  add  that  the  last  official  process  for  making  tincture  of 
arnica  is  most  unsatisfactory,  so  much  so  that  I  think  it  is  seldom 
employed.  It  seems  to  me  that  arnica  is  the  very  last  drug  that 
should  be  manipulated  by  maceration. 
