44o 
Fluid  Extract  of  Cimicifuga. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharra. 
X       Sept.,  1878. 
of  all.  If  the  first  twenty-one  ounces  had  been  reserved,  and  the  fol- 
lowing fifteen  evaporated  to  three  and  added  to  the  reserve,  we  would 
have  had  a  process  similar  to  the  officinal.  The  twenty-four  fluid- 
ounces  of  fluid  extract  would  have  represented  the  powder  employed 
upon  the  basis  we  calculate.  The  total  matter  contained  in  the 
eighty  ounces  of  percolate  represented  twenty-nine  and  a  half  ounces 
of  cimicifuga.  As  this  amount  is  apparently  five  and  a  half  ounces 
more  than  the  powder  operated  upon,  we  find  that  by  this  process  we 
have  made  a  better  percolation  than  we  did  in  the  experiment  which 
gave  us  the  base  for  our  calculations,  although  in  that  case  the  propor- 
tion of  alcohol  to  material  was  much  greater.  The  increase  of 
extractive  matter  after  each  maceration  (one  exception)  will  be  noticed. 
The  officinal  amount  of  percolate  contained  83  95  per  cent,  of  the 
total  matter  extracted  by  fifty-six  ounces. 
This  process  may  properly  be  called  percolation  with  maceration. 
Remarks. — It  will  be  noticed  that  in  neither  table  are  we  warranted 
from  an  economical  stand  in  carrying  the  percolation  to  the  extent 
directed  by  the  U.  S.  P.  It  would  have  been  better  in  both  cases  to 
have  suspended  the  operation  sooner,  which  amounts  to  the  same  as 
operating  upon  a  larger  amount  of  powder  than  sixteen  troyounces  to 
produce  sixteen  fluidounces  of  fluid  extract. 
In  the  process  given  under  Table  10,  twenty  four  troyounces  of 
material  were  employed  against  the  sixteen  ounces  of  Table  9.  It 
will  be  seen  that  this  increase  in  material  was  not  followed  by  a  cor- 
responding increase  of  extractive  matter  in  the  first  ounce  of  percolate. 
I  will  refer  the  reader  to  Table  2,  given  in  the  January  "  Journal," 
where  sixteen  ounces  of  material  in  different  percolators  occupies 
different  heights,  thus  increasing  the  contact  between  the  alcohol  and 
powder,  followed  by  a  general  increase  of  extractive  matter  from  those 
having  the  greatest  amount  of  contact. 
This  I  believe  a  law  of  nature,  mathematically  true.  I  will  not  con- 
sume time  with  the  theory,  unless  exceptions  are  made  to  it. 
Thus,  while  the  twenty-four  ounces  of  powdered  cimicifuga  (Table 
10)  occupied  fifteen  inches  in  height,  it  was  exactly  the  same  as  that  of 
the  sixteen  of  Table  9.  The  alcohol  used  was  identical  in  both 
processes. 
Each  drop  of  alcohol  came  in  contact  with  exactly  the  same 
amount  of  material  in  its  downward  course,  provided  the  packing  of 
