342 
PREPARATIONS  OP  TARAXACUM* 
experience ;  though  true  if  hot  is  intended  ;  the  fact  of  solubil- 
ity then  indicating  that  the  liquor,  previous  to  evaporation,  had 
been  properly  strained  from  the  inert  tissue  of  the  root  and 
suspended  albumen. 
A  reference  to  the  published  analyses  of  the  root  "will  enable 
us  to  account  for  the  great  differences  observed  in  its  preparation, 
and  perhaps  point  out  better  modes  of  procedure.  Royle,  how- 
ever, does  not  throw  much  light  upon  it.  He  says  the  juice 
contains  sugar,  gum,  albumen,  gluten,  an  odorous  principle,  ex- 
tractive, and  its  peculiar  bitter  principle.  This  is  not  strictly 
true,  or,  at  least,  not  the  whole  truth  respecting  either  the 
milky  juice,  as  observed  to  issue  from  the  transversely-sliced 
root,  or  that  obtained  by  pressing  the  bruised  root, 
Pereira  goes  into  greater  detail.    The  analysis  of  Frickhinger, 
which  he  quotes,  gives  as  the  constituents  of  the  expressed  juice, 
or  the  extract  prepared  with  cold  water,  albumen,  mannite,  ex- 
tractive, mucilage,  sugar  and  salts ;  while  that  prepared  by 
hoiling  the  root  in  water  contains,  in  addition,  inulin.    It  is  to 
the  presence,  absence,  or  modification  of  this  last  into  gum  or 
sugar,  that  the  differences  I  have  alluded  to  are  attributable, 
and  when  I  add  that  the  expressed  juice  also  contains  inulin,  as 
I  have  ascertained,  though  in  a  less  proportion  than  the  decoc- 
tion, the  same  cause  of  difference  operates  also  with  the  cold 
preparations,  both  of  extract  and  liquor.    As  I  before  have  stated, 
I  usually  operate  on  dandelion  roots  in  October.    I  then  find  the 
roots,  if  the  season  has  not  been  a  very  dry  one,  yield  about 
half  their  weight  of  liquor,  light  brown  in  color,  bitter,  and  more 
or  less  turbid- — milky  would  scarcely  be  the  right  expression. 
This,  when  heated  to  coagulate  albumen,  I  have  strained  and 
evaporated  to  a  syrupy  consistence,  and  then  observed  that  a 
considerable  quantity  of  matter  had  separated  from  solution.  I 
have  then  strained,  but  found  the  same  result  shortly  to  re-occur, 
and,  finally,  that  on  allowing  the  again  filtered  extract  to  cool, 
it  solidified  to  an  opaque  mass,  of  a  somewhat  gelatinous  charac- 
ter, occasioned  by  the  deposit  of  granules  of  inulin.    It  was 
therefore  evident  that  these  repeated  filtrations  were  of  no 
utility,  as  there  would  be  no  end  to  them,  and  accordingly  the 
juice  was  evaporated  after  one  straining  only.    I  will  here  direct 
your  attention  to  a  mode  of  preserving  extracts  I  have  found 
