EDITORIAL. 
383 
I concluded to stop at three and a half pints. As to the proportion of sugar and 
honey, they amount to 2§ pounds av., which, with two pints of an evaporated 
menstruum, containing the extractive matter soluble in diluted alcohol of 8 oz. 
of the roots, furnishes a syrup of good consistence. It may be observed, that 
solution of sugar in a menstruum so charged, is quite different from that in 
water. Perhaps, however, an equal amount of sugar with that of the honey, 
would be preferable. I can only say, that I employed the same quantity a num- 
ber of times, but reduced it several years since, because it appeared to be too 
much for some reason, the particulars of which I do not recollect. And as this 
formula has always given me a satisfactory preparation, I have thought no more 
about it, until now. Or perhaps, it would be better to continue the evaporation 
to three pints, with the advantage of producing a more symmetrical result, cor- 
responding, at the same time, with the quantity of the Pharmacopoeia. But, is 
not the officinal formula " almost as far out of the way 33 the other way ? Forty- 
two oz. of sugar in forty-eight fluid oz. of syrup ! Can such an amount remain in 
solution twenty-four hours at any ordinary temperature ? If mine is an 
{i anomaly 33 is not this an impossibility, " in point of consistence?" In refer- 
ence to the alcoholic objection, it may be remarked, that the evaporation in the 
case commented upon, is not "from 4 pints of tincture to 2 pints," but from 4! 
pints to 2 pints. The small portion of alcohol, that may remain after this 
evaporation and the continued heat to the end of the process, can scarcely be of 
serious consequence in the doses in which it is proscribed ; it may have some in- 
fluence in preserving the syrup, and also in promoting its medical action. Be 
. all this as it may, so far as taste is a criterion, this preparation appears to be of 
at least double strength in the qualities of both roots, of the officinal syrup care- 
fully made by the second process given, — the first being, as I suppose, with all 
apothecaries of the present day, " an obsolete idea." 
G. D. C. 
There are details applicable to many of the processes of our National 
Pharmacopoeia, which are left to the knowledge and judgment of the apo- 
thecary. To be otherwise would make that work more a treatise on prac- 
tical pharmacy than a pharmacopoeia, and in all countries it has been left 
for commentators to point out many things which should be known to the 
operator who uaes it as a guide, yet we believe that a little more minute- 
ness of detail in some of the formulas would be useful. In preparing the 
syrups of the Pharmacopoeia requiring heat, many operators forget to make 
allowance for the loss by evaporation, which usually occurs when open ves- 
sels are used. If it was more the custom to employ the saccharometer, and 
add water to make up for the deficiency of menstruum, or to perform the 
operation in close vessels, so that the vaporized moisture should be returned 
to the syrup, as well as to strain them in covered vessels, and finally to 
keep the syrups as near the temperature of 60° F. as is practicable, we 
think there would be less cause to complain of the separation of sugar from 
the officinal syrups, or of their fermenting. 
We have not found the sugar to separate from Syrup of Gum Arabic to 
much extent, even in cool weather, by o serving these rules. There is a 
small excess of solid matter in that syrup, but the gum retards the crystal- 
lization of the slight excess of sugar, and it is better to have that excess than 
a fermenting syrup. 
As regards compound Syrup of Squill, we are satisfied that the propor- 
tion of sugar is correct, and that it will remain dissolved, unless the tempe- 
rature is reduced too low: or a part of the menstruum lost by evaporation: 
