218  Beef  Extract  in  Comhination.  {^i^^-Js™' 
of  vnrjn'ng  the  composition  of  nutritive  medicinal  compounds,  and 
to  put  it  within  the  reach  of  aR  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  medi- 
cal practitioner,  by  furnishing  any  of  these  extemporaneously,  as 
required. 
Beef  stock,  as  sold  in  tin  cans,  soldered,  has  been  cheap  since  the 
war,  and  by  solution  in  glycerin,  diluted  with  "water,  may  be  brought 
to  a  tolerably  permanent  fluid,  miscible  with  pharmaceutical  prepara- 
tions. The  proportion  may  be  six  parts  of  beef  stock  to  three  or  four 
of  water,  and  one  of  glycerin.  In  time  this  becomes  gelatinous, 
probably  by  the  glycerin  combining  with  gelatine,  always  present  in 
the  stock. 
Experiments  tried  by  exposing  this  fluid  to  a  temperature  and  other 
circumstances  favorable  to  putrefaction,  indicate  that  in  midsummer  it 
would  be  necessary  to  keep  it  in  a  cool  place,  yet  probably  no  further 
difficulty  would  be  experienced  with  this  than  with  many  other  prepa- 
rations which  during  the  intense  heat  of  our  summers  require  special 
precautions  to  prevent  decomposition. 
In  the  absence  of  beef  stock  resort  may  be  had  to  either  of  the 
solid  extracts  of  beef.  I  have  dissolved  Tourtellot's  extract  in  eight 
parts  of  water,  and  added  half  a  part  of  glycerin,  but  the  solution, 
like  the  foregoing,  is  very  inelegant.  A  good  addition  to  either  of 
these  is  caramel,  which  improves  the  color  and  gives  a  flavor  of  bit- 
terness. 
Gelatine  is  the  ingredient  which  interferes  with  the  eligible  appear- 
ance and  physical  properties  of  these  solutions,  and  hence  to  remove 
this  witliout  materially  impairing  their  nutritive  qualities  is  a  deside- 
ratum. Solutions  of  tannin  added  in  small  portions,  after  largely  di- 
luting with  water,  causes  a  w^iite  flocculent  to  separate,  which  maybe 
removed  on  a  filter  or  Canton  flannel  strainer,  and  then,  on  evaporation 
to  about  the  consistence  oi  syrup,  we  have  what  may  be  termed  a  clari- 
fied solution  of  beef  extract,  preserved  by  glycerin.  The  tannin 
should  be  added  with  care,  not  to  have  an  excess,  and  the  filtration 
should  be  resorted  to  before  the  solution  is  inspissated,  and  yet  after 
heat  has  been  applied.* 
The  beef  basis  being  at  hand,  it  is  easy  to  make  suitable  extempo- 
Liebig's  beef  extract  is  free  from  the  objection  arising  from  the  presence  of 
gelatine,  and,  as  it  is  desirable  to  dispense  with  the  tannin  treatment,  and  to 
be  able  to  prepare  an  eligible  fluid  by  an  easy  and  quick  process,  resort  may 
be  had  to  this  elegant  though  costly  product. 
