Am.  .Tour.  Pharm. ) 
June,  1881.  j 
Emulsions. 
291 
oil.  The  most  important  and  frequently  prescribed  emulsions  of  this 
class  are  those  made  from  sweet  and  bitter  almonds,  the  seeds  of  poppy, 
pumpkin,  watermelon  and  the  fruits  of  hemp  and  lettuce.  Two 
methods  of  manipulating  are  followed. 
First  Method. — The  seeds  are  powdered  and  passed  through  a  sieve 
of  80  meshes  to  the  linear  inch,  and  then  suspended  in  water  by  means 
*of  gum  arable. 
Second  Method. — The  seeds  are  introduced  into  a  brass,  porcelain  or 
wedgwood  mortar,  moistened  with  a  little  water  and  contused  with 
considerable  force.  Water  is  added  in  a  small  quantity  at  a  time,  and 
after  each  addition  the  beating  is  renewed.  The  emulsion  is  to  be 
strained  through  a  white  cloth  without  pressure.  The  vegetable  albu- 
men contained  in  these  seeds  serves  as  binding  medium  between  their 
oil  and  water.  Upon  the  force  used  and  the  industry  of  the  operator 
depends  the  success  of  the  emulsion,  which,  when  perfect,  must  have 
a  thick  consistency  and  an  opaque  white  appearance.  If  the  emulsion 
looks  bluish-white  and  is  somewhat  transparent,  the  operator  has 
saved  his  muscles.  While  the  second  method  furnishes  a  very  elegant 
preparation,  the  first  one  produces  a  mixture  which  a  patient  will 
vie^^'  with  horror  and  disgust. 
The  emulsion  of  sweet  almonds,  which  is  officinal  under  the  name 
of  mistura  amygdalae,  is  made  according  to  the  second  method  with 
the  modification  of  blanching  the  almonds,  because  their  skins  would 
impart  a  color  to  the  preparation.  This  is  generally  done  by  scalding 
them  with  hot  water,  but  as  a  certain  quantity  of  emulsin  is  thereby 
coagulated,  maceration  for  half  an  hour  in  water  of  a  temperature 
from  50°  to  60°C.  is  to  be  preferred.  A  still  better  plan  is  to  let 
them  macerate  for  6  or  8  hours  in  cold  water,  especially  in  case  no 
additional  binding  medium  is  employed,  as  in  the  emulsion  for  almond 
..syrup,  U.  S.  P. 
A  very  obsolete  preparation  is  the  emulsion  of  lycopodium,  which 
is  prepared  by  rubbing  the  powder  in  a  perfectly  dry  mortar  with 
strong  pressure,  until  it  loses  its  peculiar  liquid  appearance  and  becomes 
lumpy,  then  water  is  added  gradually. 
European  physicians  sometimes  prescribe  an  emulsion  of  koosso, 
which  is,  however,  not  a  proper  emulsion.  The  drug  is  finely  pulver- 
ized and  then  supended  in  mucilage  of  gum  arable. 
