ON EXTRACT OF HENBANE. 
247 
the commencement to the conclusion of the process." Now in prac- 
tice, I find/that an inferior extract (not of course in strength, but in 
other qualities which I think very essential) is obtained by leaving 
the juice to itself to that which results from constantly stirring it; 
stirring accelerates the evaporation, and produces an extract more 
convenient for the use of the dispenser, inasmuch as it is less ad- 
hesive, and can consequently be weighed in small quantities with 
much greater facility and dispatch. 
I now come to the last division of my subject — the result ; the 
quality of which must, in a great measure, depend on the efficiency 
with which the two first have been conducted. Strength, doubt- 
less, is one of the most important properties of the extract, but 
there are other qualities not less important, and which I think 
should never be sacrificed for obtaining a slight increase of it — 
such are durability and convenience ; and to procuring these in 
combination with a strength which (although by certain processes 
it might be exceeded) I have never found equalled in the extracts 
of commerce, I now wish particularly to draw attention ; the most 
important proceeding for obtaining such a product is the selection 
of the plant ; there is only one time when it will yield it, which 
is the time already mentioned, and then the albumen and the deli- 
quescent salts of the juice are so nicely balanced, and the product 
yielded so unexceptionable, that we may fairly look upon it as one 
of those wise arrangements of Providence which adapts everything 
to the use and benefit of man. If the plant be gathered too young, 
it will yield an extract not only deficient in strength, but possess- 
ing neither of the other necessary qualities — it is of a crumbly na- 
ture, dries very rapidly, becomes fetid and mouldy, and in a very 
short time totally unfit for use. If the plant be too old, it will 
yield an extract, very strong I believe, but void of durability and 
convenience, for it soon becomes fetid, which indicates change, 
and is very deliquescent, which is extremely inconvenient. The 
same may be said of extracts from which the albumen has been 
separated, a process which I do not think advisable under any cir- 
cumstances, for I found the extracts made from the flowering plants 
of the very rainy season of 1843, keep exceedingly well for one 
year ; some of them I kept more; in fact there is on the table some 
extract of hemlock which was then put into the same pot in which 
