PATENT MEDICINES. 71 
adopted as being the carminative which has become one of the 
chief features in the medicine. The molasses should be that 
of the sugar refiners, and the composition should contain 
enough of it to resist fermentation. 
The following formula, adopted with those views, is sub- 
mitted: — 
RECIPE. 
Tincturas Opii, Oiss. 34.5 "| 
Syrupi Nigri, Oxvj. 367.8 1 1000 parts, 
Alcoholis, Oij. 46. j * 7 
Aquae, Oxxvj. 551.7 J 
Potassae Carbonatis, :$iiss. 57.5 
Olei Sassafras, f. 3iv. 11.5 
Dissolve the salt of tartar in the water, add the molasses, 
aitd heat over a gentle fire till they simmer; take off the scum 
which rises, and add the laudanum and oil of sassafras, having 
previously mixed them well together. 
5. Dalby's Carminative. 
The printed directions for this mild carminative and laxa- 
tive, order it in doses of a tea-spoonful for children, of from 
one to two years old, and of two table-spoonsful for an adult. 
These doses indicate the proportion of opium to be about a 
grain to the ounce, which the committee have accordingly 
adopted. The formula proposed by them contains also thirty- 
three grains of magnesia, and one and a half grains of salt of 
tartar to the ounce. This composition they think is well 
adapted to the doses, and for the diseases mentioned in the 
printed directions. The combination of essential oils which 
they have proposed, forms a milder and more grateful car- 
minative than the same quantity of either taken alone. Seve- 
ral of the recipes contain the tincture of castor and assafoetida, 
which are no doubt occasionally useful, in the cases in which 
this medicine is prescribed. Both on account of their nauseous 
taste, and because the intention in this preparation seems to 
have been to form a carminative, rather than an antispasmodic. 
