6  Extractum  Asari  Jhluidum.  {'^'°"jan.a^8^'"°* 
EXTRACTUM  ASAEI  FLUIDUM;  FLUID  EXTRACT  OF 
WILD  GINGER. 
Contribution  from  the  Pharmaceutical  Laboratory,  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy. 
By  F.  p.  Streepee. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  December  20, 1887. 
Having  undertaken  a  series  of  experiments  to  determine  a  men- 
struum which  would  most  effectively  exhaust  asarum,  and  hold  in 
solution  the  volatile  oil  and  resin  to  which  the  medicinal  properties 
are  probably  due,  three  fluid  extracts  were  made  of  different  alcoholic 
strengths  and  numbered  Xos.  1,  2,  and  3. 
Xo.  1. — 150  grammes  of  ground  asarum  was  moistened  with  95 
per  cent,  alcohol,  and  tightly  packed  in  a  conical  percolator,  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  the  requisite  menstruum  was  then  added  to  thoroughly 
saturate  the  drug  and  leave  a  stratum  above  it ;  when  the  liquid 
commenced  to  drop  from  the  percolator,  the  lower  orifice  was  closed, 
and  having  closely  covered  the  percolator,  mat3eration  was  allowed  to 
proceed  for  forty-eight  hours.  Percolation  was  then  commenced, 
gradually  adding  alcohol  until  the  drug  was  thoroughly  exhausted,  the 
first  135  c.c.  of  the  percolate  was  reserved,  the  remainder  evaporated, 
by  means  of  a  still,  to  a  soft  extract,  and  the  alcohol  collected.  The 
soft  extract  was  dissolved  in  the  reserved  portion,  and  enough  alcohol 
added  to  make  the  fluid  extract  measure  150  c.c. 
This  furnished  a  perfectly  transparent  liquid  of  a  rich,  amber  color, 
with  an  agreeable,  aromatic,  strongly  persistent  odor,  and  pungent, 
warm  and  lasting  taste,  and  showed  no  indications  of  precipitating 
after  standing  for  several  weeks,  and  beyond  a  doubt  holds  in  solution 
the  active  principles  of  the  drug. 
No.  2. — 150  grammes  of  the  ground  drug  was  taken  as  before, 
macerated  and  percolated,  using,  however,  a  menstruum  consisting  of 
three  parts  of  alcohol  and  one  part  of  water,  corresponding  to  71 J 
per  cent,  of  absolute  alcohol;  the  operation  was  conducted  in  precisely 
the  same  manner  as  the  preceeding.  This  furnished  a  darker  fluid 
extract  than  No.  1,  no  doubt  due  to  the  more  aqueous  menstruum 
dissolving  more  of  the  coloring  matter,  but  the  soft  extract  obtained 
by  distilling  and  evaporating  the  percolate  was  mostly  insoluble  in  the 
reserved  portion,  and  deposited  as  an  oily,  resinous  precipitate.  This 
fluid  extract  on  standing  for  several  weeks  deposited  yellowish-white 
