PREPARATIONS  OF  THE  U.  S.  PHARMACOPOEIA,  1860.  401 
this  important  preparation.  Fluid  extract  of  ergot  should  have 
no  odor  of  propylamin. 
Ext.  Grentiance  fluidum,  is  practically  a  concentrated  tincture 
made  by  operating  with  diluted  alcohol,  reserving  the  first  por- 
tion and  evaporating  the  last.  The  still  may  be  used  to  recover 
the  alcohol  from  the  last  percolate.  Fluid  extract  of  gentian  is 
a  transparent  deep  brown,  very  bitter  liquid,  possessing  the  odor 
of  the  drug,  and  is  an  elegant  means  of  prescribing  this  tonic  in 
mixtures. 
Ext.  Hyoscyami  fluidum,  as  originally  prepared,  was  of  half 
the  officinal  strength.  It  is  now,  very  properly,  of  the  proportion 
of  minim  to  grain.  The  formula  is  very  nearly  identical  with  that 
for  colchicum  root,  except  that  the  final  liquid  is  directed  to  be 
concentrated  at  a  temperature  below  150°.  When  a  water-bath 
heat  is  used,  it  is  probable  that  no  injury  would  result  from  re- 
covering the  alcohol  by  distillation.  The  best  English  hyoscy- 
amus,  imported  in  glass,  yields  with  this  process  a  most  valuable 
preparation,  more  reliable  than  the  extract  of  commerce,  and 
perhaps  less  deteriorated  than  the  solid  alcoholic  extract  prepared 
in  the  same  manner,  except  further  concentrated. 
Ext.  Ipecacuanhce  Fluidum. — The  introduction  of  this  prepa- 
ration is  one  of  the  best  innovations  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  of 
1860.  The  use  of  acetic  acid  as  a  means  of  securing  the  alka- 
loid in  a  soluble  condition  has  been  objected  to  by  some  as  al- 
tering the  previous  character  of  the  syrup ;  but  the  small  quan- 
tity of  acid  used,  and  the  small  dose  of  the  extract,  is  sufficient 
to  render  this  reason  invalid.  By  employing  the  finely  dusted 
powder  of  commerce,  the  quantity  of  alcohol  necessary  to  ex- 
haust the  root  is  very  small  when  the  process  is  carefully  con- 
ducted. The  separation  of  the  matter  insoluble  in  water  that 
is  taken  up  by  alcohol  and  called  resinous  matter  in  the  Phar- 
macopoeia, has  been  objected  to  as  injuring  the  emetic  value  of 
the  preparation  ;  but  we  believe  this  opinion  to  be  erroneous,, 
especially  in  view  of  the  precaution  of  using  acetic  acid  to  se- 
cure the  soluble  condition  of  the  emetia.  To  get  a  fluid  ex- 
tract that  will  mix,  without  separation  of  any  flocculi,  with 
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