REPORT ON SYRUP OF SARSAPARILL A. 
15 
and the subsequent mixing of this solution with sugar, ac- 
cording to Guibourt, prevents it nearly altogether. This is 
probably owing to its association with substances which re- 
tard its crystallization, and the Committee believe that, ow- 
ing to the same causes, cold water extracts and holds in so- 
lution more salseparine than if the same amount of that 
principle, in an isolated state, was submitted to its action. 
M. Beral, in a paper published several years since in the 
Journal de Chimie Medicale, strongly advocates the use 
of cold water as where heat is employed, the activity of the 
preparations suffer. (See American Journal of Pharmacy, 
vol. xii. p. 245.) 
In conclusion, the Committee will observe that the syrup, 
carefully made with cold water as a menstruum, possesses 
in a very considerable degree the virtues of its ingredients, 
but they are convinced that diluted alcohol, employed as 
directed in the first formula of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, is 
the more eligible medium for its preparation, and in this 
they fully accord with the views contained in the paper re- 
ferred for their consideration. 
William Procter, Jr. } 
A. Duhamel, V Committee. 
Ambrose Smith. ) 
Aprils, 1843. 
