^oy°T;iP8?2RM  }       Note  on  Succus  Scapi  Taraxaci.  509 
NOTE  ON  SUOCUS  SCAPI  TARAXACI  * 
By  Mr.  Henry  Barton,  Brighton. 
Dissatisfied  with  the  variable  character  of  the  usual  preparations 
of  dandelion,  in  1862  I  collected  some  flower  stalks  with  the  flower 
in  full  bloom,  and  expressed  from  them  the  juice.  Gratified  with  the 
appearance,  taste  and  effect,  the  next  year  the  experiment  was  re- 
sumed, rejecting  the  flowers  and  crushing  only  the  stalks.  Our  notes 
for  1863  may  be  thus  condensed  : — From  75  lb.  12  oz.  flowering 
stalks  as  gathered,  12  lb.  6  oz.  flower  heads  were  picked  -off  and  re- 
jected ;  and  allowing  about  1 J  lb.  for  drying  and  waste,  from  the  re- 
maining 62  lb.  stalks  by  crushing  and  pressure  were  obtained  31  lb. 
8  oz.  of  juice,  to  which  we  added  25  per  cent,  by  measure  of  spirit, 
and  stored  in  glass  bottles ;  after  some  weeks  it  was  filtered  from  the 
very  small  deposit,  the  resulting  liquor  remaining  bright  and  retain- 
ing its  characteristic  taste. 
From  that  time  to  this  we  have  operated  in  much  the  same  way, 
with  the  exception  that  on  one  occasion  we  added  the  spirit  to  the 
crushed  pulp,  and  allowed  it  to  remain  24  hours  before  submitting  it 
to  pressure ;  in  the  resulting  liquor  there  was  no  appreciable  differ- 
ence from  the  former  preparation  either  in  odor,  taste  or  color.  Our 
note  for  the  present  year  gives  similar  results  :  from  237  lb.  of  the 
stalks  were  obtained  123  lb.  4  oz.  of  the  juice,  also  from  63  lb.  flower 
heads  we  pressed  24  lb.  3  oz.  ;  this  latter  we  consider  inferior  and 
have  kept  it  separate. 
The  yield  would  be  greater  if  the  plant  came  in  direct  from  the  col- 
lectors' hands  ;  as  it  is,  they  gather  it  one  day  and  forward  it  by  car- 
rier the  next. 
The  stalk  juice  is  not  so  rich  in  solid  constituents  as  is  that  from 
the  root ;  but  if  I  may  be  permitted  to  quote  Professor  Bentley,  who, 
"when  speaking  of  the  juice  from  the  latter  collected  in  the  summer 
months,  remarked  that  "  its  value  as  a  medicine  most  certainly  did 
not  depend  solely  upon  the  amount  of  solid  constituents  it  contained, 
but  principally,  if  not  entirely,  upon  the  presence  of  a  bitter  princi- 
ple, which  had  been  termed  taraxacine.  One  of  the  best  evidences, 
therefore,  of  the  value  of  taraxacum  or  its  fitness  for  medicinal  use 
would  be  its  taste,  etc."  If,  then,  we  may  be  allowed  to  admit  taste 
.as  one  of  the  evidences  of  value,  it  will  certainly  be  favorable  to  stalk 
*  Read  before  the  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference. 
