ON A NEW DISPLACEMENT APPARATUS. 
101 
The inventor of the machine has stated that it can be ap- 
plied in the preparation of hydro-alcoholic tinctures, in the 
same way that water or alcoholic preparations are made, 
but it must appear that in boiling diluted alcohol, the first 
portion that distils over will be more highly alcoholic than 
the last. In order to test the apparatus fairly, a substance 
was chosen which contained a resinous active principle, 
which would be precipitated from the first alcoholic liquid 
by the subsequent watery product, should it turn out that 
the alcohol vaporized first. This supposition was fully re- 
alized by experiment with Helleborus niger in coarse pow- 
der. The first product was extremely bitter, but was so 
strongly alcoholic that it marked 30° Baume, notwithstand- 
ing it contained the resinous matter of the root. As the 
process proceeded, the liquid became less alcoholic, and 
cloudy, and when finished the whole product had the 
aspect of muddy water. By standing, a portion of floccu- 
lent matter rose to the surface, and some precipitated. This 
cloudiness is not objectionable in making the extract, but 
for the tincture it would require a new filtration. 
The fifth trial was made with Krameria, with water as a 
menstruum, with the design of making an extract. The 
same concentrated solution was obtained at first as in the 
other cases, but although the liquid passed transparent, as 
soon as it cooled, a brick colored precipitate of apotheme 
was deposited. It follows, therefore, that, as applied to 
rhatany, the objections of ebullition are equally applicable 
to this process, except in so far, that in this case the sub- 
stance is not acted on by the atmosphere during the action 
of the menstruum. 
In exhausting substances which contain fecula by water, 
this method is not greatly superior to boiling, when the pre- 
sence of the starch in the product is objectionable, because 
the temperature of the condensed menstruum is sufficient to 
rupture the granules of fecula, as has been tried with sar- 
saparilla. When, however, the object is to prepare infu- 
