EXTRACTUM  COLOCYNTHIDIS  COMPOSITUM. 
101 
about  half  an  hour,  and  weighed.  If  the  contents  of  the  basin 
weigh  more  than  27  J  lbs.  av.,  the  evaporation  and  stirring  are 
resumed  till  that  weight  is  attained. 
This  preparation,  when  quite  cold,  is  of  a  good  consistence  for 
pills,  is  of  a  dark  olive  brown  color, — not  black, — and  has  a  fine 
aromatic  odor. 
To  adapt  it  to  more  general  use,  and  for  convenience  of  dis- 
pensing, it  is  the  practice  of  this  laboratory  to  dry  the  extract 
further,  or  until  it  can  be  rubbed  up  to  a  coarse  powder,  and 
served  in  bottles.  The  further  drying  is  effected  by  spreading  it 
upon  the  large  glass  plates  of  the  drying  room  for  about  3  days, 
when  it  is  found  to  weigh  about  25J  lbs.  av.,  or  very  nearly  the 
sum  of  the  weights  of  the  dry  materials. 
In  this  process,  although  the  long  heating  and  stirring  ren- 
dered necessary  by  the  U.  S.  P."  direction  to  add  the  powders  at 
the  beginning  of  the  evaporation  is  avoided,  yet  the  aroma  of 
the  aloes  is  driven  off  in  so  great  a  degree  as  to  pervade  the 
house  clothing,  &c,  for  some  days, — while  the  process  is  still 
laborious  and  troublesome,  involving  much  skill  and  good  man- 
agement in  securing  a  good  aromatic  preparation. 
When  made  from  good  Bonair  gourd  aloes,  and  scammony 
containing  60  to  67  per  cent,  of  resin,  this  preparation  costs 
about  three  dollars  per  pound,  exclusive  of  the  labor  and  skill  of 
manufacturing,  or,  say  three  dollars  and  a  half  as  the  lowest 
entire  net  cost  of  manufacture  on  a  scale  of  25  lbs, — and  yet  it 
is  confidently  believed  that  some  hundreds  of  pounds  have  been 
supplied  to  the  New  York  market  during  last  year  at  prices  vary- 
ing from  seventy-five  cents  to  one  dollar  per  pound, — and  that 
the  preparation  sells  the  better,  and  the  more  largely,  as  the 
price  is  lower. 
In  view  of  these  circumstances,  and  for  other  reasons,  the 
writer  proposes  another  method  for  this  formula,  by  which  the 
same  ratio  of  materials  are  combined,  and  an  extract  of  full 
aromatic  and  purgative  value  is  very  easily  and  expeditiously 
prepared,  in  a  form  applicable  to  all  uses,  and  constant  in  its 
composition,  when  the  intent  is  good. 
This  is  simply  that  the  materials  be  mixed  in  the  dry  state, 
and  powdered  and  sifted  together.  The  soap,  an  important  cor- 
rigent  and  adjuvant  to  the  aloes  and  scammony,  is  very  easily 
