EDITORIAL. 
567 
consistence,  together  with  a  little  alcohol.  Several  other  fluid  extracts  are 
exhibited,  as  those  by  Messrs.  Savory  and  Sons,  which  include  fluid  extracts 
of  opium,  taraxacum,  rhatany,  roses,  sumbul,  &c.  These  preparations  are 
stated  to  contain  about  fifteen  per  cent,  of  glycerine. 
Solutions  of  various  medicinal  substances  in  pure  glycerine,  called  Glyce- 
ridei,  are  shown  by  Mr.  W.  Dickinson,  of  London,  as  convenient  preparations 
for  the  external  and  internal  administration  of  medicines.  Among  a  consid- 
erable number  we  have  observed  the  following  : — Glyceride  of  aloes,  of  senna, 
of  chloride  of  zinc,  of  bromide  of  iron,  of  iodide  of  sulphur,  and  of  sulphuret 
of  potassium. 
b.  Tinctures  and  syrups  are  shown  in  the  collection  of  medicines  exhibited 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britian ;  there  are 
also  some  preparations  of  this  class  contributed  by  Holland,  Portugal,  and 
Turkey. 
c.  Ex'racts  and  Inspissated  Juices. — The  collections  of  these  preparations  in 
the  British  section  of  the  Exhibition  appeared  to  the  Jury,  for  the  most  part, 
highly  commendable.  Among  those  that  were  noticed  with  especial  satisfac- 
tion, the  extracts  of  Mr.  Holland,  of  Market  Deeping,  and  of  Mr.  Ransom,  of 
Hitchin,  may  be  cited.  The  Jury  had  also  great  pleasure  in  examining  the 
extracts  prepared  by  Mr.  Squire,  Messrs.  J.  Watts  and  Co.,  Messrs.  Wright, 
Francis  and  Co.,  Messrs.  Curtis  and  Co.,  and  Mr.  W.  Hooper,  all  of  London. 
But  few  pharmaceutical  extracts  ha^e  been  sent  to  the  Exhibition  from  abroad, 
which  is  probably  due  to  the  unattractive  appearance  of  such  preparations, 
and  also  to  the  fact  that  in  Germany  at  least  they  are  not  manufactured  on  a 
large  scale,  but  generally  in  the  laboratory  of  each  pharmaceutist.  An 
Austrian  exhibitor  has  however  contributed  a  series  of  the  extracts  prescribed 
in  the  Austrian  Pharmacopoeia  ;  the  Jury  have  examined  them,  but  have  not 
been  favorably  impressed  with  them  as  compared  with  similar  products  from 
English  laboratories. 
In  France,  extracts  are  extensively  manufactured  by  M.  Berjot,  of  Caen, 
who  exhibits  a  large  number.  These  extracts,  which  in  appearance  are 
entirely  different  from  those  of  the  British  pharmaceutist,  are  prepared  in 
vacuo,  the  evaporation  being  carried  to  complete  dryness.  Thus  produced,  we 
find  them  in  the  form  of  dry  pieces,  often  several  inches  in  length,  and  of  an 
oblong  form,  very  porous  and  light,  and  generally  pale  in  color.  Extract  of 
liquorice  for  instance,  as  shown  by  Mr.  Berjot,  is  in  extremely  light  and 
spongy,  pale-bluff,  brittle,  oblong  cakes  ;  in  fact,  in  appearance  it  suggests 
pieces  of  dried  froth.  All  the  extracts  are  contained  in  wide-mouthed  bottles, 
each  provided  with  a  hollow  metallic  stopper  ingeniously  contrived  to  contain 
lime,  the  object  of  which  is  to  absorb  the  humidity  of  the  air  necessarily 
admitted  each  time  the  bottle  is  opened.  In  fact  they  are  mostly  so  hygro- 
scopic, that  without  some  precaution  of  this  nature,  it  would  be  impossible 
to  maintain  them  long  in  their  original  condition ;  as  evidence  of  which  we 
may  state  that  three  or  four  of  which  we  enclosed  small  specimens  in  pill- 
boxes, were  found  at  the  expiration  of  a  few  days  to  have  shrunk  to  perhaps 
a  tenth  of  their  usual  volume,  and  to  have  assumed  the  form  of  ordinary  soft 
extracts. 
Of  the  care  with  which  M.  Berjot's  extracts  are  prepared  we  entertain  no 
doubt ;  but  we  are  far  from  being  convinced  of  the  expediency  of  carrying  the 
desiccating  process  to  the  highest  extent,  and  of  attempting  to  maintain  the 
extracts  in  a  perfectly  dry  condition  for  daily  use.  We  think  that  such 
extracts  present  in  general  a  very  favorable  condition  for  transport  to  other 
countries,  being,  we  should  imagine,  susceptible  of  no  change  so  long  as  they 
are  kept  dry.  But  upon  the  shelves  of  the  dispensary,  where  a  large  business 
is  carried  on,  we  can  imagine  that  they  would,  from  their  proneness  to  change, 
be  a  source  of  perpetual  annoyance.  Still  as  we  are  assured*  that  M.  Berjot 
disposes  commercially  of  his  dry  extracts  to  the  extent  of  4400  lbs.  (2000 kilo.) 
*  'Bulletin  de  la  Societe  d'Encouragement,'  t.  viii.  (1861),  p.  143. 
