IMPROVED  PROCESS  FOR  FLUID  EXTRACT  OF  BUCHU.  129 
IMPROVED  PROCESS  FOR  OFFICINAL  FLUID  EXTRACT 
OF  BUCHU. 
By  Edwaed  R.  Squibb,  M.  D.,  of  Brooklyn. 
To  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  : 
As  a  member  of  your  Committee  upon  the  United  States 
Pharmacopoeia,  the  writer  begs  to  offer  the  following  criticism 
upon  the  officinal  process  for  Fluid  Extract  of  Buchu,  and  to 
suggest  some  slight  modifications  which  may  be  improvements  if 
applied  with  the  necessary  care  and  skill.  The  officinal  process 
is  as  follows : 
"  Take  of  Buchu,  in  moderately  fine  powder,  sixteen  troy- 
ounces  ; 
Alcohol  a  sufficient  quantity. 
Moisten  the  Buchu  with  six  fluidounces  of  alcohol,  introduce  it 
into  a  cylindrical  percolator,  press  it  firmly,  and  gradually  pour 
alcohol  upon  it  until  twelve  fluidounces  of  tincture  have  passed. 
■  Set  this  aside,  and  continue  the  percolation  until  two  pints  more 
of  tincture  have  been  obtained ;  evaporate  this  by  means  of  a 
water  bath,  at  a  temperature  not  exceeding  150Q,  to  four  fluid- 
ounces,  and  mix  it  with  the  reserved  tincture.    Allow  the  mix- 
ture to  stand  for  twenty-four  hours,  and  filter  through  paper." 
The  writer,  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Revision  which 
adopted  this  formula,  in  criticising  its  language,  is  but  reproducing 
here  arguments  used  in  the  Committee,  and  overruled  there  by 
much  better  scholars  than  himself,  and  upon  competent  authority  ; 
and  to  bring  these  views  forward  now  in  public  may  well  be 
taken  as  evidence  of  captiousness,  and  unwillingness  to  submit  to 
authority  ;  or  of  a  self-sufficient  stubbornness  which  often  accom- 
panies ignorance.  Still  it  will  do  no  harm  to  others,  in  view  of 
future  revisions,  to  have  the  language  as  well  as  the  process  re- 
examined and  re-confirmed  if  it  be  right.  This  is  the  first  formula 
under  the  head  of  the  Fluid  Extracts,  and  its  language  in  the 
points  to  be  criticised  is  a  type  of  the  entire  Pharmacopoeia,  and 
its  process  is  typical  of  the  whole  class  of  Fluid  Extracts. 
Language  is  made  to  express  ideas,  and  grammar  is  made  for 
language  ;  and,  therefere,  when  language  expresses  ideas  best 
and  most  definitely,  grammar  should  establish  its  construction. 
