20 
Fruit  Syrups. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
Jan.,  1879. 
The  following  is  the  outline  of  the  process  of  the  German  Pharma- 
copoeia, with  some  explanations  and  suggestions  taken  from  Hager'3 
Commentary  : 
All  fleshy  and  juicy  fruits  contain  pectin,  which  substance  causes  the 
fresh  fruit  juices  to  be  slimy  and  to  gelatinize  if  boiled  with  sugar  and 
afterwards  cooled.  When  a  syrup  made  of  fruit  juice  contains  some 
of  this  pectin,  it  is  certain  soon  to  mould  and  to  spoil.  Therefore  the 
fruit  juices  have  to  be  freed  first  from  the  pectin  before  they  are  made 
into  syrups.  The  pectin  has  to  be  decomposed  and  this  is  done  by 
fermentation. 
The  fruits  are  first  crushed  and  set  aside  for  three  or  four  days  in 
an  earthen  jar,  the  mass  being  stirred  once  a  day  with  a  wooden 
spatula.  The  juice  is  now  pressed  out  and  set  aside  again  for  a  few 
days  until  fermentation  is  completed  and  the  juice  appears  clear.  In 
order  to  detect  any  undecomposed  pectin  a  little  of  the  juice  is  mixed: 
with  a  concentrated  solution  of  magnesium  sulphate,  when,  if  any 
pectin  is  present,  it  will  congeal  or  gelatinize,  or  a  flocculent  precipitate 
will  separate.  The  juice,  mixed  with  twice  its  volume  of  90  per  cent, 
alcohol,  should  form  a  clear  solution. 
The  juice  is  then  filtered  through  paper.  If  to  the  crushed  fruit 
2  per  cent,  of  sugar  is  added  fermentation  will  go  on  more  promptly 
and  the  fermented  juice  will  filter  more  rapidly.  In  five  parts  of 
this  filtered  juice  nine  parts  of  the  best  white  sugar  are  dissolved  by 
the  aid  of  heat,  the  temperature  is  raised  to  the  boiling  point,  and  the 
solution  strained  while  hot.  No  iron  vessels  should  be  used.  The 
vessel  containing  the  syrups  is  covered  with  a  large  sheet  of  paper 
and  set  aside  in  a  cool  place  for  a  day.  The  syrup  is  now  filtered  in 
perfectly  dry  bottles  of  convenient  size  ;  the  bottles  are  tightly  corked 
and  laid  on  a  shelf  in  the  cellar.  The  syrups  thus  prepared  will  keep 
well  for  one  or  two  years.  These  syrups,  and  more  especially  the 
raspberry  syrup,  is  of  a  dark  ruby-red  color  ;  it  has  a  rich  flavor  and  is 
a  most  cooling  and  grateful  addition  to  drinks,  beverages  in  febrile 
complaints  ;  also  to  solutions,  saturations,  etc. 
I  would  respectfully  suggest  to  the  Committee  on  Revision  that  one 
or  both  of  these  syrups  be  introduced  in  our  Pharmacopoeia  at  the 
coming  revision. 
.Monticelto,  Io<wat  Dec.  2,  1878. 
