108 
PHARMACEUTICAL NOTTCES. 
200.000 killogrammes. It will be difficult for the forests to 
sustain for a long time so great a demand. The amount 
furnished by a single tree varies much. A good size tree 
affords 6 or 7 arobes* after the bark is dried. 
ART. XXIX. — PHARMACEUTICAL NOTICES. 
By William Procter, Jr. 
Fluid Extract of Sarsaparilla. — It has been frequently 
objected, in the use of the Compound Syrup of Sarsaparilla, 
that the large amount of sugar present soon cloys the patient 
and creates disgust for the medicine. In view of this, as 
well as to give a concentrated preparation more manageable 
than the syrup, the fluid extract, originally suggested by 
William Hodgson, Jr., (Vol. II. p. 285 of this Journal,) was 
proposed, and has gradually found its way into extensive 
use. There are some patients who even object to the sac- 
charine portion of this last mentioned preparation, and I 
have been called on to prepare it without the sugar. 
By reference to the investigations that have been made 
respecting the active principle of sarsaparilla, it will be 
found that that substance is but sparingly soluble in water 
per se, and that this fluid is not well fitted, at any tempera- 
ture at which it may be applied, as an extracting menstruum. 
Further, it will be seen, when a hydro-alcoholic solution of 
sarsaparilla is evaporated to a small bulk, so as to remove 
all the alcohol and a part of the water, that there is a ten- 
dency in the sarsaparillin to separate by crystallization, by 
long standing. 
Now, in view of these facts, as well as to render this 
preparation less obnoxious to change by fermentation, it is 
suggested to replace the whole or a part of the sugar, by 
alcohol, in such a manner that the alcohol shall not be in 
♦The arobe equals 1 1 $ killogrammes. 
