1 8  Changes  in  Formulas  of  Galenicals.  {  Afanl™y  ^7™' 
various  menstruse  and  methods  of  manipulations.  For  the  first 
time  in  the  revisions  of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia,  fractional  or  di- 
vided percolation  is  directed.  This  process,  Type  Process  C,  is  now 
not  only  permissible,  but  is  officially  directed  to  be  employed  in  the 
fluidextracts  of  aconite,  aromatic  powder  and  bitter  orange  peel. 
The  type  samples  prepared  by  several  of  the  committees  which 
had  worked  with  this  class  of  preparations  in  the  previous  revisions 
had  been  preserved  and  reports  on  these  were  secured.  The  orig- 
inal samples,  wherever  available,  were  carefully  inspected,  and  the 
changes  both  in  amount  and  character  of  precipitate  noted.  The 
experiments  led  to  the  adoption  of  a  number  of  changes  in  the  men- 
struums  directed  and,  for  several,  entirely  new  formulas  are  intro- 
duced. 
In  the  following  Fluidextracts,  an  increase  in  the  alcoholic 
strength  of  the  menstruum  directed  is  to  be  noted :  Bitter  Orange 
Peel,  Belladonna  Root,  Buchu,  Guarana,  Hyoscyamus,  Pilocarpus, 
Podophyllum,  Sarsaparilla,  Staphisagra,  Sumbul  and  Uva  Ursi. 
Numerous  complaints  showed  that  it  was  practically  the  universal 
opinion  that  in  the  Fluidextract  of  Buchu  of  the  Eighth  Revision,  the 
menstruum  of  three  volumes  of  alcohol  and  one  volume  of  water 
was  incorrect,  and  alcohol  is  now  directed. 
A  reduction  in  the  alcoholic  strength  of  the  menstruum  is  to  be 
noted  in  the  following  Fluidextracts :  Gelsemium,  Ipecac,  Senna  and 
Triticum. 
The  U.  S.  P.  VIII  directed  that  Fluidextract  of  Cascara  Sagrada 
should  be  made  with  a  menstruum  of  four  volumes  of  alcohol  and 
six  volumes  of  water.  Our  knowledge  of  cascara  sagrada  and  its 
constituents  now  permits  us  to  direct  the  extraction  of  the  drug  with 
hot  water  and  the  addition  of  the  alcohol  to  the  concentrated  aque- 
ous percolate  as  a  preservative  only.  This  improvement  has  been 
made  in  both  the  fluidextract  of  cascara  sagrada  and  in  the  pow- 
dered extract,  in  both  of  which  the  extraction  of  the  drug  is  directed 
to  be  made  with  water. 
The  Aromatic  Fluidextract  of  Cascara  Sagrada  of  the  U.  S.  P. 
VIII  was  criticized  in  several  respects.  First,  the  attempt  to  ex- 
tract the  glycyrrhiza  along  with  the  cascara  sagrada  by  the  use  of 
magnesium  oxide.  The  proper  solvent  for  licorice  is,  beyond  any 
question,  ammonia  water  and  the  extraction  of  these  two  drugs 
should  not  be  made  together,  as  either  magnesium  oxide  or  calcium 
oxide  is  the  required  alkali  for  the  extraction  of  cascara  sagrada. 
