550 
ON  A  NEW  MODE  OF  PREPARING  SOME  SYRUPS. 
dissolve  it.  To  follow  this  process,  a  continued  application  of 
heat  is  necessary,  and  a  prolonged  contact  with  air  unavoidable  ; 
this  would  make  it  desirable  to  modify  the  process  in  such  a 
way  as  to  dispense  with  evaporation  as  much  as  possible.  In 
the  following  I  offer  such  processes  for  the  officinal  syrups  of 
rhubarb  and  the  unofficinal  syrup  of  blackberry  root. 
The  Prussian  and  other  Pharmacopoeias  of  Europe,  prepare 
syrup  of  rhubarb  by  macerating  the  root,  cut  into  thin  slices, 
with  water  containing  a  little  carbonate  of  potassa  in  solution, 
then  expressing  the  mass  and  dissolving  the  sugar  in  the  clear 
liquid.  Rhubarb  root  contains  much  pectin,  and  to  the  alkaline 
solution  yields  pectic  acid,  which  is  undesirable  in  pharmaceuti- 
cal preparations,  and  is  one  of  the  causes  of  the  decomposition 
of  the  similarly  prepared  aqueous  tincture  of  rhubarb.  But  the 
syrup  thus  prepared  keeps  well  without  precipitating,  and  the 
principal  fault  of  the  process,  besides  the  employment  of  an  al- 
kali, which  does  not  add  to  the  medicinal  properties,  but  only 
imparts  to  the  preparation  a  nice  red  color,  seems  to  me  to  lie  in 
the  fact,  that  a  single  maceration  in  water  does  not  extract  all 
the  virtues  of  the  root,  which  retains  a  considerable  quantity  of 
the  liquor. 
The  root  may  be  completely  exhausted  by  water,  if  treated 
in  a  funnel-shaped  percolator  in  accordance  with  Professor  I.  J. 
Grahame's  suggestions.  If  rhubarb  root  is  powdered  so  as  to 
pass  through  a  sieve  of  fifty  meshes  to  the  linear  inch,  mois- 
tened sufficiently  with  water  and  packed  in  a  funnel  with  slight 
pressure,  the  root  will  swell  up  in  a  short  time  to  such  an  ex- 
tent as  to  almost  wholly  prevent  the  passage  of  the  liquid ;  if 
the  powder  has  been  packed  very  loosely,  the  liquid  passes  some- 
what better,  but  the  portion  in  the  centre  is  not  readily  ex- 
tracted. To  accomplish  the  complete  exhaustion  of  the  root,  it 
is  necessary  to  mix  the  powdered  rhubarb  with  about  an  equal 
bulk  of  fine  sand,  and  pack  it,  previously  moistened,  with  moder- 
rate  pressure  into  the  displacer.  On  the  addition  of  water,  per- 
colation commences  immediately,  and  the  first  liquid  is  of  a  deep 
color  and  highly  charged  with  the  virtues  of  the  root.  Though 
the  rhubarb  soon  swells  considerably,  the  process  is  never  im- 
peded, but  the  liquid  continues  to  pass  drop  by  drop,  each  por- 
tion becoming  lighter  of  color  and  less  bitter  in  taste.    If  the 
