NOTE  ON  FLUID  EXTRACT  OF  WILD  CHERRY  BARK.  399 
p.  Iodide  of  Propylamine,  25  drops. 
Peppermint  Water,  6  f.oz. 
Sugar,  2  dr. 
Dose. — A  tablespoonful  every  two  hours. 
In  this  form  the  patient  would  receive  the  I  gr.  of  Iodine  at 
a  dose. 
Philadelphia,  1th  month,  1860. 
NOTE  ON  FLUID  EXTRACT  OF  WILD  CHERRY  BARK. 
By  William  Procter,  Jr. 
The  recipe  for  this  preparation,  published  at  page  108,  vol. 
28th,  (1856,)  has  been  received  with  such  general  favor  that  it 
may  be  looked  upon  as  an  established  formula,  and  probably  is, 
in  substance,  the  one  to  be  adopted  in  the  revised  edition  of  the 
United  States  Pharmacopoeia.  In  a  paper  on  fluid  extracts  read 
before  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  last  year,  and 
published  in  the  November  (1859)  number  of  this  Journal,  I  in- 
cluded a  process  for  this  fluid  extract  of  double  the  original 
strength,  so  as  to  be  in  the  proportion  of  an  ounce  to  the  fluid 
ounce  in  accordance  with  the  general  strength  adopted  in 
that  paper  ; — but  at  the  same  time  it  was  doubted  whether  the 
bark  could  be  properly  extracted  and  condensed  in  so  small  a 
bulk  without  the  loss  of  a  portion  of  its  valuable  qualities.  As 
the  strength  of  eight  ounces  to  the  pint  gives  the  dose  a  tea- 
spoonful,  the  Committee  of  the  College  of  Physicians  of  Phila- 
delphia adopted  the  formula  as  originally  proposed,  in  prefer- 
ence to  the  stronger  preparation. 
The  object  of  this  note  is  to  offer  a  few  hints  in  regard  to  the 
details  of  the  process,  which  have  been  suggested  by  considera- 
ble practical  experience  with  the  manipulations  required. 
Wild  cherry  bark  contains  amygdalin,  a  bitter  principle  not 
yet  isolated,  tannic  acid,  resin  and  fixed  oil,  besides  other  less 
important  matters.  It  is  desirable  to  get  all  the  amygdalin  and 
the  bitter  principle  and  a  part  of  the  tannic  acid  in  the  fluid  ex- 
tract, whilst  the  remainder  of  the  tannic  acid  and  all  of  the 
resin  and  fixed  oil  should  be  excluded.  In  order  to  render  these 
comments  intelligible  to  the  reader  who  may  not  have  the  vol- 
ume for  1856  at  hand,  I  will  recapitulate  an  outline  of  the 
