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T  H  E 
AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY, 
NOVEMBER,  1873. 
EX TR ACTUM  IPECACUANHA  FLUIDUM. 
By  Richard  V.  Mattison. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  October  21. 
The  preparation  of  this  extract  is  attended  with  some  difficulty, 
and  seems  to  have  been  a  source  of  annoyance  to  our  Pharmacopoeia 
authorities.  The  last  selection  (U.  S.  P.,  1870)  is  unfortunate  in 
furnishing  a  product  very  thick  and  inelegant,  though  no  doubt  fully 
representing  all  the  medical  properties  of  the  root. 
When  this  extract  is  prepared  according  to  the  present  formula, 
and  diluted  with  syrup,  as  the  Pharmacopoeia  directs,  the  result  is  a 
turbid  syrup— the  abhorrence  alike  of  patients,  physicians  and  phar- 
macists. 
This  proving  very  unsatisfactory  in  these  days  of  elegant  phar- 
macy, I,  in  accordance  with  the  suggestions  of  Prof.  J.  M.  Maisch, 
instituted  a  series  of  experiments,  which  resulted  in  the  selection  of 
the  following  formula : 
Take  eighty  troy-ounces  of  carefully  selected  ipecac  root,  grind  to 
appropriate  powder,  and,  after  moistening  thoroughly,  pack  firmly  in 
a  cylindrical  glass  percolator,  allow  to  stand  four  days  as  directed, 
then  using  the  officinal  menstruum,  allow  percolation  to  proceed 
slowly  until  the  root  is  exhausted.  To  the  percolate  add  ten  fluid- 
ounces  of  glycerin,  and  evaporate  at  a  temperature  not  exceeding 
140°  Fahr.  (if  the  temperature  is  allowed  to  rise  higher,  a  gelatinous 
mass  will  result)  until  reduced  to  the  measure  of  fifty-five  fluid-ounces. 
Transfer  this  to  a  moistened  filter  and  allow  to  drain.  To  the  soft 
mass  remaining  upon  the  filter,  consisting  of  the  peculiar  substance 
usually  called  resin  (though  not  so,  properly  speaking),  water  is  added 
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