Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
Dec,  1877.  J 
Syrupus  Lactucarii. 
579 
dissolve  in  the  liquid  the  pulv.  extract  of  liquorice,  with  the  aid  of  a 
gentle  heat,  stirring  to  assist  the  solution.  When  dissolved  add  the 
sugar,  keeping  up  the  heat  till  the  latter  is  also  dissolved.  Then  strain 
while  hot  and  add  hot  water  through  the  filter  to  make  four  pints  of 
finished  syrup. 
The  above  syrup  I  find  to  disguise  the  taste  of  quinia  better  than 
syrup  of  liquorice  root,  the  aromatic  elixir  of  liquorice  or  the  simple 
syrup  of  the  extract  of  liquorice.  It  will  completely  cover  the  taste 
of  20  grains  of  quinia  sulphate  in  one  ounce  of  the  syrup,  and  only  a 
slightly  bitter  taste  will  be  developed  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  after  tak- 
ing, which,  however,  may  be  removed  by  taking  a  draught  of  black 
coffee  with  sugar. 
This  syrup  has  such  a  pleasant  flavor,  and  none  of  the  often  objec- 
tionable sweetness  of  liquorice,  that  our  physicians  who  are  using  it 
say  that  they  find  no  trouble  at  all  now  in  giving  quinia  in  solution  to 
children  or  to  their  most  delicate  patients.  A.  S. 
Tell  City,  Ind. 
Remarks. — Ginger  contains  nearly  one-fifth  of  its  weight  of  starch, 
which  must  be  dissolved  by  boiling  with  water,  whereby,  also,  consid- 
erable of  the  volatile  oils  of  the  aromatics  must  be  lost.  It  would 
seem,  therefore,  as  if  the  process  might  be  improved.  The  action  of 
the  proposed  syrup  probably  depends  upon  the  tannin  of  the  cinnamon 
and  cloves  producing  quinia  tannate,  which  is  slowly  soluble  in  dilute 
acids. — Editor. 
SYRUPUS  LACTUCARII. 
By  A.  G.  Schlotterbeck. 
The  query,  "  What  is  a  good  working  formula  for  syrupus  lactu- 
carii ?  "  was  submitted  to  the  writer  by  the  Cumberland  County  (Me.) 
Pharmaceutical  Association  at  its  meeting  last  August,  and  led  to  a 
number  of  experiments,  with  the  following  results  :  The  point  to  be 
attained  was  to  produce  a  clear,  transparent  preparation,  and  the  ques- 
tion first  to  be  considered,  What  is  the  turbidity  owing  to  ?  Some 
chemists  claim  that  lactucarium  contains  a  caoutchouc-like  principle, 
and  this  was  thought  might  prove  the  cause  of  our  tribulations. 
A  sample  of  English  lactucarium  was  selected  and  macerated  in 
chloroform  for  ten  hours,  the  chloroform  carefully  drained  off,  and  the 
process  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  pursued.    It  was  observed  during  the 
