PREPARATIONS  OF  THE  U.  S.  PHARMACOPEIA,  1860.  399 
and  a  half  for  each  troy  ounce  of  the  finely  powdered  cimicifuga, 
the  whole  of  which  is  to  be  obtained  as  a  concentrated  tincture 
by  displacement  with  diluted  alcohol.  The  pint  and  a  half  of 
tincture  thus  obtained  is,  by  spontaneous  evaporation,  reduced 
to  twelve  fluid  ounces  and  set  aside.  Two  pints  more  of  perco- 
late being  obtained  with  diluted  alcohol  the  liquid  is  to  be  reduced 
to  four  fluid  ounces  by  evaporation  at  150°.  Now  if  the  pre- 
liminary percolation  has  been  well  conducted,  no  injury  will  re- 
sult from  regaining  the  alcohol  from  the  last  percolate  by  distil- 
lation, but  the  first  alcohol  is  necessarily  lost,  unless  a  vaccuum 
apparatus  is  employed.  There  is  one  point  in  the  directions  of 
this  formula  that  needs  correction,  viz.,  in  the  last  paragraph  at 
page  163,  last  sentence  ;  it  should  read,  "  Then  add  it  to  the 
tincture  first  obtained,  very  gradually,  so  as  to  avoid  precipita- 
tion," &c.  The  italicized  words  are  wanting.  The  reason  is  that 
the  last  evaporated  liquid,  being  very  nearly  aqueous,  will  pre- 
cipitate the  resin  from  the  tincture  if  the  latter  is  suddenly  mixed 
with  it ;  but  when  the  addition  is  gradually  made  in  the  contrary 
way  this  does  not  occur  to  much  extent. 
Ext.  Cinchona?  Fluidum. — This  is  the  formula  of  Alfred  B. 
Taylor,  as  published,  {Am.  Jour,  Fhar.  vol.  xxiii.,  page  218),  ex- 
cept that  the  quantity  of  sugar  is  reduced  from  14  to  ten  troy 
ounces  to  the  pint  of  fluid  extract.  When  well  made  it  is  an 
opaque  orange  red  liquid  which,  on  standing,  separates  into  a 
transparent  syrupy  superstratum  and  a  sedimentary  flocculent 
deposit,  which  easily  incorporates  by  agitation  and  which  is  val- 
uable, from  the  presence  of  cincho-tannates. 
Ext.  Coichici  Radicis  Fluidum. 
Ext.  Coichici  Seminis  Fluidum. — The  proportions  and  manip- 
ulation of  these  two  formulae  are  nearly  the  same  as  those  for 
buchu,  but  the  menstruum  consists  of  two  parts  of  alcohol  to  one 
of  water. 
Fluid  extract  of  colchicum  root  tends  to  deposit  a  sediment 
which,  however,  is  of  no  value,  and  the  sediment  is  larger  in  pro- 
portion to  the  weakness  of  the  alcohol.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
fluid  extract  of  the  seed  tends  to  separate  a  fixed  oil  which  rises 
to  the  top,  and  which  appears  to  be  inert,  (see  J.  M.  Maisch  in 
