EXTRACTUM  ANTHEMIDIS  FLUIDUM. 
389 
with  diluted  solutions  of  metaphosphoric  acid,  by  which  his  state- 
ment above  quoted  will  be  partly  explained,  and  the  entire  con- 
version into  the  terhydrate  is  merely  an  oversight,  as  a  partial 
change  only  takes  place.  It  is  self-evident,  that  if  a  portion  is  thus 
altered,  there  ought  to  be  a  possibility  of  altering  the  whole  in 
a  like  manner  ;  the  difficulty  appears  to  consist  in  placing  the 
entire  solution  in  the  same  favorable  condition,  which  is  the 
proper  large  amount  of  water,  and  probably  a  certain  tempera- 
ture, which,  when  at  the  boiling  point,  induces  the  change  most 
rapidly.  If  the  proper  conditions  are  ascertained,  we  may  per- 
haps succeed  in  converting  the  entire  bulk  of  a  solution  into  the 
terhydrated  acid;  but  an  important  point  must  be  to  prevent 
the  formation  of  the  deutohydrate,  which,  it  appears  to  me, 
offers  under  all  circumstances  more  resistance  to  form  the  ter- 
hydrate, than  the  pure  monohydrate.  Both,  however,  when  in 
solution,  succumb  to  the  influence  of  time  and  of  nitric  acid,  as- 
sisted by  heat. 
Of  the  behaviour  of  the  three  hydrates  in  their  free  and  com- 
bined state  to  reagents,  we  still  know  too  little,  though  it  is  an 
important  and  at  the  same  time  an  interesting  subject  for 
further  researches. 
Philadelphia,  July^  1861. 
EXTRACTUM  xiNTHEMIDIS  FLUIDUM— SYRUPUS  ANTHEMIDIS. 
By  Joseph  A.  IIeintzelman. 
Several  recipes  for  Fluid  Extract  of  Chamomile  have  been 
published,  which  are  neither  equal  in  strength  nor  alike  in  the 
manner  of  manipulation. 
It  is  certainly  of  great  advantage,  both  to  the  physician  and 
the  practical  pharmaceutist,  to  have  equal  and  uniform  formulas 
even  for  those  preparations  which  are  not  yet  standard  re- 
cipes in  any  of  the  Pharmacopoeias,  but  frequently  called  for 
and  valued  by  physicians  and  others. 
As  important  as  the  quality  and  the  selection  of  the  drugs 
themselves  are,  it  is  of  no  less  importance  to  have  proper  sol- 
vents employed  to  extract  the  virtues  of  plants,  and  to  gain  all 
their  active  properties  without  impairing  any.  Such  is  the  case 
