ON  THE  PREPARATION  OP  ECBALINE. 
259 
desirable  :  which  cannot  be  done  with  our  syrup  prepared  with 
acetic  acid  menstruum,  without  the  loss  of  the  acid  gas.  To  the 
accomplishment  of  this  end  I  have  prepared  a  formula  as  fol- 
lows : — 
Take  of  Squill,  (powdered,)       .       two  ounces,  troy. 
Alcohol,       .       .       .       three  fluid  ounces. 
Water,  .       .       .       one  pint. 
Refined  Sugar,  .  .  two  pounds  troy. 
Mix  the  squill  with  twice  its  bulk  of  coarse  washed  sand,  in- 
troduce into  a  percolator,  and  place  a  tin  diaphragm  on  the  top. 
Mix  the  alcohol  and  water,  and  displace  till  12  ounces  are  ob- 
tained, add  the  sugar,  boil,  evaporate  to  two  pints  and  strain. 
This  syrup  has  all  the  virtues  of  the  squill  in  the  same  pro- 
portions as  that  by  the  Pharmacopoeia,  and  if  well  prepared 
presents  the  same  appearance. — Ibid, 
ON  THE  PREPARATION  OF  ECBALINE,  (ELATERIN),  THE 
ACTIVE  PRINCIPLE  OF  ECBALIUM  OFFFICINARUM. 
By  John  Williams. 
The  Uchalium  officinarum  (Momordica  elaterium),  or  squirt- 
ing cucumber,  appears  to  have  been  employed  as  a  purgative 
from  the  time  of  Dioscorides  and  Pliny,  or  possibly  much  earlier : 
and  the  so-called  extract  is  the  form  in  which  it  has  usually  been 
administered. 
This  extract  is,  as  is  well  known  to  pharmaceutists,  produced 
by  a  process  totally  different  from  that  employed  for  the  pro- 
duction of  an  ordinary  extract. 
The  cucumber  is  sliced  longitudinally,  and  subjected  after- 
wards to  gentle  pressure,  the  juice  thus  obtained  being  allowed 
to  remain  at  rest  for  ten  or  twelve  hours,  by  which  time  a  green- 
ish feculent  matter  will  have  deposited.  The  clear  supernatant 
liquor  being  rejected,  the  deposited  matter  is  drained  on  a  linen 
cloth,  and  afterwards  dried  at  a  very  gentle  heat,  and  thus  we 
obtain  the  thin  flaky  pieces  met  with  in  commerce.  As  may  be 
supposed,  this  extract  is  liable  to  very  great  discrepancies  in 
strength  and  quality ;  for  if  the  pressure  used  is  great,  a  large 
percentage  of  inert  matter  will  be  expelled  from  the  cucumbers, 
and  thus  the  activity  of  the  medicine  will  be  reduced  to  an  im- 
portant extent. 
