Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1888. 
Practical  Notes  in  Pharmacy. 
9 
PRACTICAL  NOTES  IN  PHAEMACY. 
Abstracts  from  Theses. 
Mucilago  Acacice. — With  the  view  of  rendering  the  mucilage  of 
gum-arabic  permanent,  George  P.  Ringler,  Ph.  G.,  suggests  to  pre- 
pare it  by  dissolving  4  ounces  of  the  gum  in  a  mixture  of  4  ounces 
each  of  glycerin  and  water.  The  solution  is  effected  in  the  usual  way 
by  maceration  and  agitation,  and  usually  requires  straining  to  free  it 
from  accidental  impurities.  It  is  particularly  well  adapted  for  the 
preparation  of 
Syrupus  AcacicB,  by  mixing  3  parts  of  the  mucilage  with  5  parts 
of  simple  syrup.  The  syrup  should  be  prepared  extemporaneously, 
since  it  will  not  keep  long  in  warm  weather  without  spoiling. 
To  ascertain  the  preservative  influence  of  glycerin  upon  the  solu- 
tion of  gum,  the  mucilage  prepared  according  to  the  Pharmacopoeia, 
and  several  samples  containing  glycerin  were  simultaneously  exposed 
to  a  temperature  varying  between  65°  and  80°  F.,  and  it  was  found 
that  the  former  aawM  keep  for  about  one  week ;  while  a  menstruum 
composed  of  28  water  and  16  glycerin  would  render  the  mucilage  ser- 
viceable for  two  weeks;  a  mixture  of  24  water  and  10  glycerin  for 
five  weeks,  and  a  mixture  of  20  water  and  15  glycerin  for  more  than 
seven  weeks. 
Tinctura  Vanillce. — While  retaining  the  pharmacopoeial  percentage 
of  vanilla  in  this  preparation,  John  K.  Faust  proposes  changes  in  the 
menstruum  and  in  the  manipulation.  Instead  of  using  sugar  for 
beating  the  vanilla  into  powder,  he  suggests  the  use  of  washed  sand 
for  this  purpose,  but  in  much  larger  proportion  than  has  been  em- 
ployed by  Mr.  Chas.  Shivers  (Am.  Jour.  Pharm.,  1861,  p.  383).  The 
menstruum  Contains  glycerin,  the  alcoholic  strength  is  reduced,  and 
maceration  in  the  percolator,  for  a  short  time,  is  resorted  to.  Cut 
vanilla,  10  parts,  is  beaten  into  a  uniform  powder  with  washed  sand, 
75  parts,  the  mixture  packed  into  a  percolator,  and  macerated  for  four 
hours  with  sufficient  menstruum  composed  of  alcohol  50  parts,  gly- 
cerin 19  parts  and  water  31  parts  ;  percolation  is  then  allowed  to  pro- 
ceed until  100  parts  of  tincture  have  been  obtained. 
Syrupus  Sarsaparillce  Compositus. — In  1878  Mr.  Isaac  Davis  pro- 
posed (Am.  Jour.  Pharm.,  1878,  p.  327)  the  preparation  of  this  and 
other  syrups  by  percolating  the  drugs,  suitably  powdered,  with  simple 
syrup.    Irvin  J.  Brandt,  Ph.  G.,  now  suggests  a  modification  of  this 
