306  PROPER  MENSTRUUM  FOR  FLUID  EXTRACTS. 
volume.  At  the  same  time,  I  stated  my  own  views  on  the  subject, 
giving  my  reasons  in  detail  and  striving  to  keep  strictly  within 
the  bounds  of  scientific  discussion.  I  spoke  of  Mr.  Thayer's 
paper,  and  not  of  his  fluid  extracts,  of  which,  to  the  best  of  my 
knowledge,  I  have  not  seen  a  single  specimen.  The  observations 
and  experiments  cited  in  my  paper  were  made  with  preparations 
of  my  own  make,  not  upon  the  large  scale,  but  in  such  quanti- 
ties as  are  generally  required  in  the  retail  business. 
It  is  my  opinion,  and  I  believe  I  have  clearly  stated  it,  that 
it  is  necessary  to  employ  for  the  solvent  an  agent  suitable  to  the 
chemical  constitution  of  the  various  vegetables,  not  that  one 
solvent  should  be  made  to  answer  in  all  cases.  The  proposition 
of  using  a  saccharine  fluid  as  a  preservative,  is  not  shaken  by 
the  admission  of  alcohol  in  cases  where  sugar  and  water  are  in- 
sufficient as  a  solvent.  We  may  even  be  compelled  to  dispense 
with  sugar  altogether,  using  alcohol  of  the  officinal  strength,  or 
diluted,  if  the  preparation  is  intended  for  external  use ;  such 
instances  are  the  fluid  extract  of  arnica,  and  of  savine,  as  pro- 
posed by  Prof.  Grahame  for  the  preparation  of  savine  ointment. 
Recollecting  all  this,  while  I  advocated  the  preference  of  a  sac- 
charine to  a  purely  alcoholic  menstruum,  I  did  not  think  it  ad- 
visable to  undertake  to  recommend  a  way  for  preserving  fluid 
extracts  which  would  answer  for  every  case. 
It  must  certainly  be  our  aim  to  make  these  preparations  per- 
fect solutions  of  all  that  is  medicinally  valuable,  but  not  of  all 
alcoholic  or  hydro-alcoholic  principles,  of  which  doubtless  there 
are  as  many  valueless,  as  of  those  soluble  in  water.  This  is  not 
a  new  theory,  the  Pharmacopoeia  recognizes  it,  and  as  far  as  I 
know,  no  fault  has  been  found  on  that  account  with  preparations 
like  Syrupus  Ipecacuanhas,  Senegse,  Sarsaparillae  comp.,  Scillae 
comp.  Where  the  precipitate  occasioned  by  evaporation  has 
medicinal  properties,  nobody  would  think  of  separating  it. 
An  objection  to  the  use  of  sugar  is  its  fermentativeness. 
Under  the  influence  of  ferment,  sugar  is  converted  into  alcohol 
and  carbonic  acid  without  requiring  any  addition  to  the  elements 
it  already  contains.  Ferment  merely  acts  by  its  presence,  being 
itself  in  a  state  of  decomposition ;  but  does  this  decomposition 
go  on  independently  of  oxygen  ?  It  has  been  proven  as  far 
back  as  1819,  by  Dumont,  Doebereiner  and  others  that  some 
