PREPARATIONS  OF  TARAXACUM. 
341 
merited  upon  by  Professor  Bentley ;  but  was  laid  aside,  under 
the  impression  that  the  subject  had  been  sufficiently  ventilated. 
It  is  now  submitted  to  the  meeting  at  the  suggestion  of  some  of 
the  members,  who  consider  that  some  of  the  points  referred  to 
will  admit  of  further  discussion.] 
The  dandelion  plant  is  so  well  known  and  everywhere  abun- 
dant, that  it  will  be  unnecessary  to  describe  it  here,  nor  need  I 
repeat  what  is  to  be  found  in  every  Manual  of  Materia  Medica, 
respecting  the  comparative  value  of  its  roots  at  various  seasons 
of  the  year  ;  suffice  it  that  I  have  collected  and  prepared  them 
at  all  seasons,  and  hold,  that  all  things  considered,  October  is 
the  best  month  for  treating  them.  The  P.  L.  extract  of.  dande- 
lion is  directed  to  be  prepared  from  the  root  by  macerating  for 
twenty-four  hours  2j  pounds  of  it  bruised  in  two  gallons  of  boil- 
ing distilled  water,  boiling  the  mixture  to  one  gallon,  straining 
while  hot,  and  lastly,  evaporating  to  a  pilular  consistence.  The 
product  I  have  obtained  by  this  mode  of  procedure  bears  no 
similarity  to  any  extract  I  have  met  with  in  commerce,  and  were 
it  used  without  explanation  would  mortally  offend  nine  of  ten 
patients  accustomed  to  the  ordinary  preparations. 
I  have  found  it  to  be  an  opaque  mawkish  mass,  tenacious  but 
not  gummy,  of  saltish  taste,  but  possessing  little  sweetness,  and 
forming,  when  rubbed  up  with  water,  a  whitish  opaque  fluid,  as, 
I  believe,  very  imperfectly  representing  the  active  principle  of 
the  root.  The  commercial  extract,  on  the  other  hand,  is  of  a 
more  or  less  dark  brown  color,  sweet  in  taste,  with  slight  bitter- 
ness, tenacious  and  gummy,  and  forms,  when  diluted  with  water, 
a  semi-transparent  liquid.  I  here  refer  to  extract  sold  as  having 
been  prepared  according  to  the  P.  L.  There  are  other  extracts 
of  a  more  pretentious  kind,  said  to  be  obtained  by  evaporating 
the  filtered  expressed  juice  of  the  root,  which  are  less  sweet  and 
transparent,  but  yet  are  very  different  from  that  I  have  been 
accustomed  to  obtain  from  the  mere  evaporations  of  the  fresh 
expressed  juice.  This  latter  plan  is  that  ordered  by  the  U.  S. 
Pharmacopoeia.  Pereira  states  of  the  P.  L.  extract,  «  that  it 
should  be  brownish,  not  blackish.  Its  taste  is  bitter  and  aro- 
matic ;  that  of  the  shops  is  usually  more  or  less  sweet.  It 
should  be  completely  soluble  in  water."  If  by  water  is  here 
meant  cold  water,  the  description  is  incorrect,  according  to  my 
