312      NOTES  ON  THE  FLUID  EXTRACTS  OF  BUCHU,  ETC. 
NOTES  ON  THE  FLUID  EXTRACTS  OF  BUCHU,  CIMICIFUGA, 
SERPENTAMA,  AND  VALERIAN. 
By  John  M.  Maisch. 
Philadelphia,  June  3d,  1859. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy : 
Dear  Sir, — In  compliance  with  your  desire,  I  herewith  send 
you  the  formulae  for  those  fluid  extracts,  specimens  of  which  I 
some  time  ago  handed  to  you  for  inspection ;  they  comprise  ex- 
tracts which  generally  used  to  be  preserved  by  alcohol  or  diluted 
alcohol.  In  consonance  with  my  views  on  the  proper  menstruum 
for  fluid  extracts,  as  published  in  the  March  number  of  the  Ameri- 
can Journal  of  Pharmacy,  I  have  endeavored  to  make  them  con- 
taining as  much  sugar  as  possible,  and  add  just  enough  alcohol 
to  help  to  keep  the  resinous  principle  in  perfect  solution. 
In  making  these  fluid  extracts  and  other  preparations,  I  have 
made  experiments,  in  accordance  with  Professor  Grahame's  rules 
for  displacement,  and  have  become  a  convert  to  his  views  and  to 
the  applicability  of  his  manipulations  to  all  cases  where  the  im- 
mediate object  is  to  obtain  a  concentrated  tincture  with  as  little 
menstruum  and  in  as  short  a  time  as  possible.  But  to  reduce  a 
larger  quantity  of  crude  material  to  such  a  state  of  fineness  as  to 
pass  through  a  sieve  of  50  to  60  meshes  to  the  linear  inch,  is 
attended  with  considerable  trouble,  and,  as  I  thought,  more  than 
is  necessary  for  preparations  which  require  to  be  evaporated, 
particularly  if  with  the  application  of  heat.  His  directions  will 
impose  a  vast  amount  of  manual  labor  on  the  pharmaceutist, 
without,  the  above  instances  excepted,  adequately  recompensing 
him  therefore.  For  that  reason  I  have  varied  from  his  direc- 
tions by  passing  roots  and  other  drugs,  which  are  comparatively 
easy  to  pulverize,  successively  through  the  drug  mill,  or  treated 
them  in  the  mortar  until  all  the  raw  material  would  pass  through 
a  sieve  of  18  meshes  to  the  inch  ;  from  this  coarse  powder  I  sifted 
off  all  that  would  pass  through  a  fine  sieve  of  50  meshes,  mois- 
tened both  parts  separately,  in  accordance  with  Mr.  Grahame's 
directions,  packing  them  afterwards,  the  finest  powder  below,  in 
a  proper  manner  in  the  percolator,  and  covering  the  top  with 
filtering  paper.    I  have  generally  left  it  in  this  condition,  with 
