102  AQUEOUS  FLUID  EXTRACT  OF  OF  SENNA. 
dried  and  powdered  ;  and,  like  the  cardamom,  is  more  easily 
and  efficiently  powdered  in  association  with  the  other  materials. 
The  admixture  also  facilitates  the  pulverization  of  the  aloes,  by 
rendering  it  less  liable  to  gum  or  clog. 
Such  an  extract  has  been  prepared,  and  is  now  being  tested 
in  practice,  with  a  view  to  its  substitution  for  use  in  the  Navy. 
The  formula  used  is  as  follows  : 
Extract  of  colocynth  dry       .       .       .       .  10 1 3 
Aloes  34i5 
Scammony  .  ....  11J5 
Cardamom  .        .        .       .       .  3  3 
Soap,  dried  at  212°  7|f 
The  ingredients  are  mixed  together  thoroughly,  and  then  pow- 
dered and  sifted  through  bolting  cloth  of  110  threads  to  the 
linear  inch.  Portions  of  the  cardamom  seeds  and  the  ligneous 
impurities  of  the  aloes  and  scammony  pass  through  the  sieve 
last.  Therefore  a  second  mixing  and  sifting  is  required  to  en- 
sure equability  in  the  resulting  powder. 
A  very  small  proportion  of  water, — 7  to  8  per  cent. — makes 
this  powder  at  once  into  the  consistence  for  pills. 
It  would  be  an  improvement  upon  this,  and  all  formulae  for  this 
preparation  if  resin  of  scammony  could  be  substituted  for  the 
drug,  since  the  drug  varies  as  much,  even  under  the  present 
law  for  inspection,  as  from  55  to  80  per  cent,  in  medicinal  value. 
U.  S.  Naval  Laboratory,  New  York,  Jan.,  1857. 
ON  AQUEOUS  FLUID  EXTRACT  OF  SENNA. 
William  Procter,  Jr. 
Dear  Sir: — Having  been  extensively  engaged  in  manufac- 
turing Fluid  Extract  of  Senna  during  the  past  few  years,  my 
experience  has  led  me  to  adopt  a  method  differing  from  that 
prescribed  in  the  Dispensatory.  Its  advantages  consist  in  this, 
that  the  resulting  extract  is  a  handsomer  preparation,  less 
liable  to  fermentation,  affords  a  clear  mixture  with  syrup  and 
infusion,  and,  above  all,  free  from  griping  property.    It  has 
