ON  SOME  PHARMACEUTICAL  PREPARATIONS. 
a  pestle  in  a  mortar,  and  after  macerating  it  for  about  twelve 
hours,  mix  it  with  a  quart  of  alcohol ;  after  another  twelve  hours 
the  liquid  is  poured  off,  the  pulp  placed  upon  the  sand  in  the 
percolator,  and  the  liquid  added  to  it ;  after  the  pulpy  mass  has 
settled,  the  cork  is  withdrawn,  when  the  liquid  will  commence 
to  run  slowly,  perfectly  clear ;  particles  of  opium  or  sand  that 
may  have  passed  the  diaphragm  being  kept  behind  by  the  cot- 
ton. The  vessels  that  have  been  used,  are  washed  with  diluted 
alcohol,  and  the  washings  put  upon  the  opium  for  displacement, 
which  process  is  completed  when  the  obtained  tincture  measures 
two  gallons.  The  first  half-gallon  contains  nearly  all  the 
strength  of  the  opium  operated  upon,  the  liquid  afterwards 
trickles  through  much  lighter,  until  towards  the  end  of  the  pro- 
cess it  passes  colorless.  It  takes  about  five  days  to  finish  the 
above  quantity  of  laudanum  ;  one  day  for  maceration,  and  four 
for  percolation. 
Aeetated  Tincture  of  Opium  may  be  prepared  in  a  similar 
manner ;  for  smaller  quantities  the  diaphragm  may  be  dispensed 
with,  the  cotton  filter  is  covered  with  the  sand,  and  after  2  oz. 
opium  have  been  macerated  with  5  oz,  of  the  menstruum  for 
twenty-four  hours,  the  operation  is  completed  as  in  the  former 
case,  the  last  of  the  liquid  to  be  displaced  by  throwing  about  2 
oz.  water  on  the  opium. 
In  preparing  wine  of  opium  the  process  may  be  conducted  in 
precisely  the  same  way  ;  in  making  Sydenham's  laudanum,  how- 
ever, I  have  repeatedly  covered  the  cotton  filter  with  the  saffron 
finely  cut,  upon  which  the  opium  mixed  with  the  cinnamon  and 
cloves  was  placed,  when  the  whole  thus  arranged  was  macerated 
with  about  one-fourth  the  wine  for  forty-eight  hours,  and 
afterwards  slowly  displaced ;  the  product  was  always  unobjec- 
tionable. 
With  much  more  accuracy  and  nicety,  than  with  the  process 
directed  by  the  Pharmacopoeia,  may  the  opium  be  exhausted  in 
a  way  similar  to  the  above,  for  the  preparation  of  extract  of 
opium.  After  the  opium,  by  means  of  some  water  and  sufficient, 
trituration,  is  reduced  to  a  pulpy  mass,  the  liquid  is  poured  off, 
the  pulp  packed  in  a  percolator  prepared  as  for  laudanum,  and 
after  the  passage  of  the  liquid  amounting  to  the  quantity  used 
