iS  Changes  in  Formulas  of  Galenicals.  {AfaJu0^y  ^J}"™' 
to  remove  the  fat,  and  in  some  cases,  the  recovery  of  tthe  alkaloid 
from  the  benzin  solutions  became  necessary.  These  added  manipu- 
lations complicated  somewhat  the  processes. 
The  standardizing  of  potent  galenical  preparations,  wherever 
possible,  is  now  an  established  principle  in  our  pharmacopoeia,  and 
the  ninth  revision  has  carried  this  out  more  fully  than  heretofore. 
In  the  Extracta,  this  presented  to  the  committee  the  problem  of 
selecting  proper  diluents  by  which  concentrated  extracts  could  be  re- 
duced to  the  standard  adopted.  Our  experiments  led  to  the  adop- 
tion of  powdered  starch  dried  at  ioo°  C.  or,  in  some  cases,  a  mix- 
ture of  powdered  and  dried  starch  and  magnesium  oxide  as  the 
diluent  for  powdered  extracts.  In  the  introductory  chapter  on  Ex- 
tracts, however,  permission  has  been  given  to  the  manufacturers  to 
use  other  inert  diluents,  such  as  sugar,  sugar  of  milk,  powdered 
glycyrrhiza,  magnesium  carbonate,  or  the  finely  powdered  drug  or 
marc  from  which  the  extract  was  made.  A  satisfactory  diluent 
must  be  inert  from  a  therapeutic  standpoint,  as  well  as  chemically. 
It  is  difficult  to  select  one  substance  that  will  prove  preeminently 
satisfactory  for  all  of  the  extracts.  The  committee  had  some  diffi- 
culty in  coming  to  a  conclusion  as  to  the  proper  diluent  to  recom- 
mend for  reducing  the  stanardized  solid  extracts.  The  final  selec- 
tion was  glucose,  as  possessing  the  requisite  qualification  of  being 
inert.  Yet  this  has  not  proven  altogether  satisfactory  and  it  may  be 
possible  that  some  other  substance  may  yet  be  proposed  as  a  substi- 
tute for  glucose,  and  suggestions  in  this  respect  are  invited. 
The  selection  of  a  proper  menstruum  for  each  extract  likewise 
required  considerable  experimentation.  The  U.  S.  P.  VIII  directed 
that  Extract  of  Belladonna  Leaves  be  made  with  a  menstruum  of 
two  volumes  of  alcohol  and  one  volume  of  water.  With  many 
samples  of  the  drug,  the  manufacturers  found  that  if  the  drug  was 
completely  exhausted  with  this  menstruum  that  the  yield  was  large 
and  the  extract  was  deficient  in  alkaloidal  content.  Hence,  in  the 
U.  S.  P.  IX,  a  stronger  alcoholic  menstruum  has  been  directed, 
namely,  three  volumes  of  alcohol  and  one  volume  of  water,  so  as  to 
reduce  the  amount  of  extractive  and  permit  of  maintaining  the  alka- 
loidal standard. 
Extract  of  Ergot,  U.  S.  P.  VIII,  was  a  roundabout  process 
copied  after  the  British  Pharmacopoeia  and  yielded  a  small  amount 
of  extract  associated  with  sodium  chloride  and  at  a  very  high  cost. 
The  committee  were  convinced  that  hydrochloric  acid  in  proper 
