526       METHODS  OF  MAKING  MEDICINES  AGREEABLE,  ETC. 
have  been  found  eligible  when  used  in  that  form  has  greatly  in- 
creased. Messrs.  Tilden  &  Co.  now  prepare  over  one  hundred 
varieties  of  fluid  extracts ;  they  have  the  advantage  of  being  con- 
centrated fluid  representations  of  plants  with  but  little  alcohol ; 
and  in  very  many  of  those  now  preserved  by  means  of  alcohol, 
sugar  might  with  advantage  be  substituted  for  that  purpose. 
Among  the  non-officinal  fluid  extracts,  those  of  arnica,  black- 
berry, cranesbill,  ginger,  buchu,  dandelion,  dandelion  and  senna, 
hyoscyamus,  and  sarsaparilla  compound,  I  consider  especially 
eligible,  and  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  there  are  many  other 
plants  which  experience  will  prove  to  be  most  valuable  in  the 
form  of  fluid  extract. 
I  have  had  occasion  to  prepare,  during  the  past  year,  several 
saturated  tinctures,  as  some  physicians  think  them  less  variable, 
and  require  much  smaller  doses.  In  preparing  them  I  have 
used  a  considerable  excess  of  the  dried  material  over  and  above 
the  amount  calculated  that  the  menstruum  can  exhaust.  This 
method  is  wasteful,  and  is  only  applicable  to  local  prescribing,  and 
when  the  effects  of  such  preparation  can  be  closely  watched. 
I  have  prepared  as  above,  saturated  tinctures  of  bloodroot, 
belladonna,  henbane,  lobelia,  digitalis,  conium,  etc. 
The  compound  tincture  of  cardamom  is  one  of  the  most  ele- 
gant of  adjuvants  to  mixtures  of  tinctures,  etc.,  known. 
Most  pharmaceutists  color  their  essences  or  alcoholic  solu- 
tions of  the  essential  oils  of  peppermint,  spearmint,  pennyroyal, 
and  the  like,  by  means  of  curcuma.  Now  by  placing  a  small 
portion  of  the  dried  plant,  from  which  the  essential  oil  is  obtained, 
into  the  solution  of  oil  previous  to  filtration,  a  color  is  obtained 
which  is  much  more  natural.  A  few  red  rose  leaves  impart  to 
essence  of  winter-green  a  more  delicate  color  than  saunders  or 
cochineal. 
The  infusion  of  rose  leaves  forms  a  judicious  addition  to  many 
extemporaneous  mixtures,  owing  to  its  power  of  disguising  taste, 
and  to  its  beautiful  color. 
The  modern  idea  of  preparing  extemporaneously,  and  taking 
infusion  of  quassia,  by  drinking  water  from  goblets  made  of 
quassia  wood,  has  already  become  obsolete. 
In  the  preparation  of  cinnamon  water,  the  essential  oil  of  the 
