THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARM^ 
MA  Y,  i8gg. 
SYRUPUS  PRUNI  VIRGINIANS  (ACETOUS). 
By  Joseph  P.  Remington. 
Syrup  of  wild  cherry  has  long  been  one  of  the  favorite  vehicles  not 
only  for  the  administration  of  active  remedies,  but  on  account  of  its 
agreeable  taste ;  it  is  often  used  per  se  for  allaying  slight  bronchial 
irritation.  Pharmaceutically  no  great  difficulty  has  ever  been  ex- 
perienced in  making  a  good  syrup,  but  the  presence  of  tannin  in 
considerable  quantity  has  created  much  difficulty  in  making  a  per- 
manent fluid  extract,  which  possesses  all  of  the  valuable  constituents 
and  a  minimum  of  the  undesirable  principles.  In  the  series  of  ex- 
periments undertaken  to  prove  the  value  of  acetic  acid  as  a  men- 
struum, fluid  acetract  of  wild  cherry  was  made,  and  in  the  course  of 
collateral  investigations  to  show  its  miscibility  with  water,  glycerin 
and  syrup,  the  idea  of  using  very  dilute  acetic  acid  for  the  infusion 
to  be  made  into  the  syrup  suggested  itself,  and  the  following  formula 
is  proposed : 
Metric.         Old  Form. 
Wild  cherry,  No.  20  powder   150  gm.       5  oz.,  av. 
•  Sugar  700  gm.     25  oz. ,  av. 
Glycerin   150  c.c.       5  fl.  oz. 
Diluted  acetic  acid,  U.S. P.,  sufficient  to  make    .  1,000  c.c.     34  fl.  oz. 
Moisten  the  wild  cherry  with  50  c.c.  (or  1  y2  fluid  ounces  old 
form)  of  the  diluted  acetic  acid,  and  macerate  for  twenty-four  hours 
in  a  close  glass  or  earthenware  vessel,  then  pack  it  firmly  in  a  cyl- 
indrical non-metallic  percolator.  Percolate  the  wild  cherry  with 
diluted  acetic  acid  until  450  c.c.  (or  15  fluid  ounces  old  form)  of 
liquid  is  obtained.    In  this  dissolve  the  sugar  by  agitation  without 
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