THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
AUGUST,  1876. 
ON  FLUID  EXTRACT  OF  IPECAC. 
BY  HARRY  C.  WATT,  PH.G. 
[Extract  from  an  Inaugural  Essay.) 
The ;  principal  use  of  fluid  extract  of  ipecac  is  for  making  syrup, 
hence  all  preparations  other  than  those  which  will  make  a  good  and 
permanent  syrup,  no  matter  what  other  good  qualities  they  may  have, 
should  be  rejected,  and  those  which  will  make  the  most  perfect  syrup 
should  be  adopted.  The  officinal  fluid  extract  of  1870  contains  the 
inert  resin  1  in  solution,  to  the  removal  of  which  the  "  Pharmacopoeia  '* 
of  i860  paid  so  much  attention.  The  prevailing  opinion  is,  that  it  is 
not  hard  to  improve  on  the  present  formula,  for  the  preparation  soon 
becomes  very  thick  upon  standing. 
The  formula  of  Mr.  Richard  V.  Mattison,  published  in  the  "Amer. 
Jour.  Pharm.,"  1873,  P*  4^J?  furnishes  a  good  preparation,  but  unless 
there  is  extra  care  used  in  manipulation,  the  proper  strength  of  the 
drug  would  not  be  represented.  Moreover,  the  preparation  itself  is 
not  entirely  free  from  the  objections  common  to  this  preparation,  for 
in  spite  of  the  most  careful  manipulation  it  will  precipitate.  The  syrup 
made  therefrom  shows  a  resinous  separation  after  standing  a  long  time, 
which  seems  to  be  the  case,  to  a  small  extent  at  least,  in  the  best  pre- 
parations of  this  syrup.  I  believe,  however,  Mr.  Mattison's  prepara- 
tion to  be  almost  as  near  perfect  as  can  well  be  obtained.  The  work- 
ing formula  can,  however,  be  improved  upon. 
The  writer  prepared  fluid  extract  of  ipecacuanha  by  four  different 
processes,  but  in  each  case  the  drug  was  similarly  treated  as  to  fineness 
1  This  so-called  resin  is  most  likely  a  decomposition  product  of  the  pectin  con- 
tained in  ipecacuanha. — Editor. 
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