^"'MaT'^'iss-r"'"}  Fluid  Extracts  of  the  Netu  Pharmacopoeia.  129 
constituents  of  ipecac.  While  it  cannot  be  positively  asserted  that  such 
treatment  does  lessen  the  activity  of  the  preparation,  it  certainly  cannot 
be  claimed  to  increase  it ;  the  obvious  object  of  the  special  procedure 
directed  in  the  preparation  of  this  fluid  extract,  being  to  furnish  a  pro- 
duct that  will  form  a  permanently  transparent  preparation  when  mixed 
with  syrup,  and  as  it  may  be  doubted  that  even  this  process  will  always 
accomplish  that  object,  it  would  seem  preferable  to  prepare  the  fluid 
extract  in  the  ordinary  way,  and  then  make  the  syrup  by  a  process 
which  can  always  be  depended  upon,  although  it  may  involve  a  little 
more  pharmaceutical  labor  in  carrying  it  out. 
When  the  fluid  extract  is  made  by  the  formula  recommended  by  the 
Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  the  eighty-five  parts  of  reserved 
percolate  will  contain  at  least  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the  soluble  por- 
tion of  the  i])ecac,  and  only  the  small  amount  contained  in  the  dilute 
percolate  is  subjected  to  heat.  This  fluid  extract  when  mixed  with 
the  proper  quantity  of  water,  and  after  standing  a  few  hours  filtered, 
and  the  sugar  dissolved  in  the  filtrate,  either  by  moderate  heat,  by 
agitation  in  a  bottle,  or  by  cold  percolation,  will  yield  a  syrup  entirely 
free  from  suspicion  of  injury  during  the  process  of  its  preparation. 
Such  a  method  for  this  syrup,  with  the  addition  of  twenty  per  cent, 
of  glycerin,  has  been  used  for  years  by  the  writer  and  other  phar- 
macists, with  entire  satisfaction ;  no  fermentation,  precipitation,  or 
separation  of  flocculent  matter  occurring  in  the  syrup  so  made,  even 
when  kept  for  years,  and  exposed  in  partly  filled  bottles,  to  the  vary- 
ing temperature  of  the  store  in  all  seasons. 
Recently  published  experiments  appear  to  indicate  that  the  addition 
of  a  small  quantity  of  water  of  ammonia,  to  a  very  dilute  alcoholic 
menstruum,  will  also  furnish  a  transparent  and  permanent  syrup,  but  • 
such  addition  will  undoubtedly  cause  a  chemical  change  in  the  con- 
stituents of  the  ipecac,  and  while  this  change  is  probably  not  injurious 
to  its  medicinal  value,  it  would  seem  preferable  to  employ  an  equally 
efl'ective  preservative,  which  would  be  entirely  without  chemical 
action. 
ExTRACTUM  Iridis  F lvibvm.— Fluid  Extract  of  7r/s.— This  fluid 
extract  is  one  of  the  eleven  added  to  the  list  by  the  Committee  of  Re- 
vision ;  the  menstruum  directed  for  its  preparation  is  composed  of  three 
parts  of  alcohol,  and  one  part  of  water,  which  will  no  doubt  thor- 
oughly exhaust  the  blue  flag  root,  and  supply  a  permanent  and  reliable 
]) reparation  of  an  active  indigenous  drug. 
(To  be  continued.) 
9 
