400     PREPARATIONS  OF  THE  U.  S.  PHARMACOPEIA,  1860. 
Am.  Jour.  Phar.  vol.  xii.  p.  97).  When  carefully  made  they  are 
powerful  and  valuable  preparations,  but  the  seed  require  to  be  in 
powder  to  be  entirely  exhausted  by  this  formulae. 
Ext.  Oonii  Fluidum. — The  object  of  the  acetic  acid  in  this 
process  is  to  give  stability  to  the  preparation,  and  to  prevent  the 
decomposition  of  the  natural  salt  of  conia  during  the  evaporation. 
It  is  of  the  utmost  consequence  to  choose  the  drug  in  a  well-pre- 
served condition  and  green  color,  and  to  have  it  in  a  uniform 
fine  powder,  to  get  nearly  all  of  the  virtues  in  the  12  fluid  ounces 
of  received  fluid.  In  this  instance  it  is  necessary  to  lose  the  al- 
cohol, rather  than,  by  excessive  heat,  to  endanger  the  prepara- 
tion, unless  the  vacuum  pan  be  used. 
Ext.  Dulcamara  fluidum. — In  this  preparation  bitter-sweet  in 
moderately  fine  powder  is  exhausted  with  diluted  alcohol,  ,the 
alcohol  regained  by  distillation,  and  sugar  added  for  its  preserva- 
tion prior  to  the  final  evaporation,  which,  being  concluded,  leaves 
but  little  if  any  alcohol  present.  Some  have  found  this  prepara- 
tion to  ferment.  I  have  generally  found  it  to  keep  well,  although 
on  one  occasion  a  disposition  to  eliminate  gas  was  observed ;  but 
the  preparation  had  not  medically  deteriorated.  It  will  be  easy 
to  control  this,  by  reserving  two  fluid  ounces  of  the  first  tincture 
that  passes,  and  after  evaporating  the  fluid  extract  to  fourteen 
fluid  ounces,  to  add  it.  This  precaution,  however,  is  hardly 
required. 
Extractum  Ergotce  fluidum. — This  preparation  is  made  from 
finely  powdered  ergot,  by  means  of  acetic  diluted  alcohol  in  man- 
ner and  proportion  used  for  fluid  extract  of  conium.  The  use  of 
the  acid  was  proposed  by  the  writer  of  this  notice  at  a  time  when 
propylamin  was  presumed  to  be  the  chief  active  constituent  of  the 
drug.  It  had  long  been  known  that  the  active  matter  of  ergot 
was  fugitive,  and  it  was  practically  found,  that  a  solution  of 
ergot  could  be  manipulated  with  little  if  any  loss  of  power  if  kept 
decidedly  acid.  The  discovery  by  W.  T.  Wenzell,  (see  Amer. 
Jour.  Pharm.  vol.  xii.  page  193,  1864,)  of  the  presence  of  two 
organic  alkaloids  easily  decomposible  in  their  nature,  lends  addi- 
tional reasons  why  acetic  acid  is  a  useful  agent  in  preserving 
