EXTRACTUM  COLOCYNTHIDIS  COMPOSITUM. 
99 
prescribed  proportion  of  pulp  is  more  fully  exhausted  than  by 
the  prescribed  management. 
Extract  of  colocynth,  dry,    15-7  per  cent.  1448  per  cent. 
Aloes,         -       -       -    51-7      «  47-68 
Scammony,  -        -        -    17-2      «  15-86 
Cardamom,                   -     4-3      «  3-98 
Soap,  dry,    .        -        -    11-1      «  10-24 
 Water,  7-76 
Dry  comp.  extract,  100-0   
Compound  extract,  pill  mass  consistence,  100-00 
The  formula  and  process  arrived  at  by  the  writer  as  perhaps 
accomplishing  the  intention  of  the  U.  S.  P.,  and  as  certainly 
yielding  an  excellent  preparation,  is  as  follows,  the  quantities 
being  sixteen  times  those  of  the  officinal  formula. 
Of  colocynth,  pulp  and  seed  together,  28Ibs.  5  oz.  av.,  equiva- 
lent to  96g  troy  of  pulp. 
This  should  yield  of  dry  extract  41b  av.—  58§  2J3  troy. 
Aloes  in  powder,  13Ibs  2|  oz.=  192j 
Scammony  in  powder,  4ft>s  6J  oz.  64 
Cardamom  1Tb  9  oz.  in  husks, 
Yielding  of  powdered  seed,  Iflb  1J  oz.—  161 
Soap,  (containing  about  14  per 
cent,  water,)  3Ifos  4 J  oz.=  48§ 
y    Yielding  when  dried  and  powd.  2ft>s  13j  oz.  =41 1!§ 
Alcohol,  1  pint. 
Diluted  alcohol,  16  gals. 
The  colocynth,  broken  up  with  the  hands,  is  macerated  with  9 
gallons  of  the  Diluted  alcohol  for  four  days,  at  a  gentle  heat, 
with  occasional  stirring,  in  a  vessel  of  15  gallons  capacity.  The 
liquor*  is  then  expressed  and  filtered  through  flannel  into  a  vessel 
of  16  gallons  capacity.  The  press  cake  or  residue  is  then 
broken  up  and  packed  for  percolation  in  a  10  gallon  jar,  around 
a  glass  tube.  This  glass  tube  is  of  an  inch  or  more  internal 
diameter,  and  of  the  length  of  the  inside  of  the  jar.  Its  lower 
end  is  made  irregular  and  tied  under  with  a  piece  of  coarse 
*  This  tincture  yields  11-052  per  cent,  of  dry  extract,  and  therefore  ap- 
pears to  indicate  that  the  once  expressing  directed  in  the  officinal  process, 
(even  though  a  much  larger  proportion  of  menstruum  is  used  there,)  is  not 
sufficient  to  exhaust  the  material  properly. 
