380 
FLUID  EXTRACT  OF  VALERIAN. 
principle  of  the  root,  and,  on  adding  this  to  the  hydro-alcoholic 
solution,  a  still  further  precipitate  ensues,  a  portion  only  of 
which  is  taken  up  on  standing,  so  that  it  becomes  necessary  to 
agitate  the  mixture  each  time  it  is  dispensed,  or  filter  it  at  the 
risk  of  separating  a  portion  of  its  active  principles,  which  have 
been  disturbed  from  their  native  combinations  by  the  manner  of 
treatment. 
Circumstances  of  this  nature  induced  the  query  in  the  writer's 
mind,  whether  the  ether  was  at  all  essential  in  the  process,  ex- 
cept on  account  of  its  ready  volatility,  and  whether  the  evapo- 
ration could  not  be  entirely  dispensed  with  when  made  of  the 
strength  prescribed  by  the  formula. 
On  examination  it  will  be  found  that  the  fluid  extract  result- 
ing from  this  process  is  retained  in  a  menstruum  composed  of 
about  two  parts  of  alcohol  and  one  part  of  water,  and  that  con- 
sequently, no  constituent  of  the  Valerian  is  held  in  solution, 
which  this  menstruum  is  not  capable  of  dissolving.  It  was  this 
fact  that  first  led  the  writer  to  depart  from  the  officinal  direc- 
tions in  its  preparation. 
The  specimen  above  referred  to  was  made  by  treating  the 
finely  powdered  root,  by  displacement,  with  a  menstruum  of  the 
strength  already  stated,  which  was  ascertained  to  completely 
exhaust  the  root  in  the  quantity  directed  by  the  formula,-— in 
fact,  the  exhaustion  was  principally  effected  by  the  time  a  por- 
tion of  liquid  equal  to  the  quantity  of  root  used  had  passed. 
With  the  view  of  ascertaining,  before  dispensing  the  preparation 
thus  made,  whether  any  principle  had  escaped  the  hydro-alco- 
holic treatment,  which  would  be  yielded  to  a  mixture  of  ether 
and  alcohol,  and  possibly  retained  in  solution  in  the  finished  ex- 
tract, a  portion  of  the  residue  left  in  the  displacer,  after  being 
dried  by  exposure  to  the  air,  was  carefully  treated  with  the  ether 
mixture  in  due  proportions,  producing  a  straw  colored  solution, 
which,  on  being  spontaneously  evaporated,  yielded  only  a  portion 
of  fatty  matter,  having  neither  the  odor  nor  taste  of  Valerian, 
and  which  is  also  separated  in  the  officinal  process  by  evapora- 
tion and  the  union  of  the  two  liquids.  The  conclusion  arrived 
at  by  this  experiment  was,  that  the  whole  of  the  medicinal  prop- 
erties of  the  root  had  been  yielded  to  the  first  treatment  with 
diluted  alcohol.    Since  that  time  the  writer  has  continued  to 
