1S4 FLUID EXTRACTS OF RHUBARB AND VALERIAN. 
Take of Rhubarb root, eight ounces, (Troy.) 
White sugar, five ounces, " 
Diluted alcohol, two pints. 
Reduce the drug to a uniform coarse powder, by grinding, 
if possible, and mix it with its bulk of coarse sand ; moisten 
it with sufficient of the diluted alcohol to form a pasty mass, 
and allow it to stand for an hour, or until the particles are 
thoroughly impregnated and swollen with the liquid. The 
mass is then introduced into a displacer, and shaken until 
settled uniformly, covered with a piece of paper or cloth, 
and the rest of the menstruum carefully poured on until the 
passing liquid has but little odour or taste of the root, which 
is usually accomplished by the amount of menstruum indi- 
cated in the formula, if the percolation has been slowly ef- 
fected. The concentrated tincture thus obtained is evapo- 
rated in a water bath until it measures five and a half fluid 
ounces, the sugar added, and when dissolved the whole 
should measure eight fluid ounces. 
Fluid extract of rhubarb, made as above, has a dark 
colour in mass; is transparent in thin layers ; has a strong 
odour and taste of the drug, some what modified by the sugar; 
and a thick syrupy consistence at the ordinary temperature, 
and has the specific gravity of 1.30. When mixed with 
water the solution is slightly turbid, owing to a little resinous 
matter. 
In reference to its permanency it may be remarked, that 
the preparation has been kept for a month past, during the 
hottest weather, in the shop, without any evidence of change 
in appearance or odour, and its efficacy as a cathartic in the 
dose of half a teaspoonful has also been satisfactorily ascer- 
tained. The formula is offered, however, that it may be 
tried, and under the impression that, if no unforseen diffi- 
culty presents, it will prove a valuable agent in the hands 
of the practitioner. 
Fluid extract of Valerian. — A formula for this prepara- 
