Am.  Joan.  Pjiarm.  1 
ATov.  1, 1874.  j 
Extract  of  Guarana,  etc. 
499 
investigate  for  ourselves,  we  often  discover  that  we  have  been  deceived 
and  misled,  and  that  "  it  is  not  all  gold  that  glitters." 
Unfortunately,  physicians  frequently  make  a  great  mistake  in  their 
experiments  to  test  the  effects  of  a  remedy  and  to  ascertain  its  true 
physiological  action,  by  too  often  prescribing  the  remedy  under  trial 
associated  with  other  active  medicinal  agents,  and,  so,  effects  are  often 
credited  to  the  new  remedy  that  are  due  to  those  with  which  it  is 
associated.  To  judge,  with  any  degree  of  accuracy,  of  the  effect  of  a 
remedy,  it  should  be  prescribed  alone  or  with  comparatively  inert 
substances. 
My  friend,  Dr.  Wm.  B.  Atkinson,  of  this  city,  informs  me  that  he 
has  witnessed  the  most  prompt  and  beneficial  effects  from  the  use  of 
guarana  in  sick  and  nervous  headache,  in  his  practice. 
I  have  occasionally  received  prescriptions  for  it  in  powder,  for  the 
last  two  or  three  years,  but  it  was  not  until  recently  that  I  have  had 
it  prescribed  in  the  form  of  fluid  extract ;  and  not  having  any  of  the 
latter  on  hand,  and  knowing  of  no  published  formula  by  which  to 
make  the  fluid  extract,  I  at  once  sent  for  it  to  several  of  our  leading 
pharmacists,  but  could  not  obtain  it.  So,  thinking  that  I  might,  per- 
haps, have  future  calls  for  it,  I  concluded  it  would  be  well  for  me  to 
devise  a  formula  and  process  for  its  preparation.  The  expensiveness 
of  guarana,  however,  made  it  rather  an  uninviting  subject  for  exper- 
iment ;  but  as  I  was  fortunate  in  my  first  conception  of  its  character, 
and  the  proper  strength  of  menstruum  required  for  its  exhaustion,  I 
encountered  but  little  difficulty  in  framing  a  suitable  formula.  And 
as  there  is,  to  my  knowledge,  no  published  formula  for  a  fluid  extract 
of  guarana,  I  here  present  the  one  I  have  adopted,  which  I  offer  for 
the  benefit  of  my  professional  brethren,  who  may  be  thus  enabled  to 
make  the  preparation  for  themselves,  and  thereby  be  able  to  insure 
its  reliability,  for  this  is  doubly  important  in  a  new  remedy,  which  is 
still  the  subject  of  experiment  by  the  medical  profession,  to  deter- 
mine its  physiological  action. 
Pulv.  Paullinise,         ....       ^xvi  troy, 
Alcohol.  Fort. 
Aquae,        .  .  .  .  .  ad  q.  s. 
Mix  three  measures  of  stronger  alcohol  with  one  of  water,  moisten 
the  powder  with  the  menstruum  and  pack  it  in  a  glass  funnel  prepared 
for  percolation,  and  gradually  pour  the  menstruum  upon  it,  until  one 
pint  of  tincture  is  obtained.    Set  this  aside,  in  a  shallow  vessel,  to 
