242  Pharmaceutical  Preparation  of  Corn  Silk.  {^'^£y\m''^' 
PHARMACEUTICAL  PREPARATIONS  OF  CORN  SILK. 
By  George  W.  Kennedy,  Ph.G. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  April  17 
During  the  past  year  several  physicians  of  Schuylkill  county  have 
been  using  different  preparations  of  the  stigmata  of  Zea  Mays  for 
catarrh  of  the  bladder  and  similar  diseases  with  very  good  results. 
The  preparations  should  be  made  from  the  fresh  article,  as  the  dried 
seems  to  be  worthless,  at  least  that  is  the  experience  of  those  who  have 
had  the  subject  under  investigation;  cases  under  treatment,  which 
were  not  benefited  by  the  powder  or  other  preparations  made  from  the 
dried  article,  yielded  to  a  tincture  prepared  from  the  fresh  or  green 
stigmata.  It  would  be  advisable  to  gather  the  drug  before  it  begins 
to  change  in  color,  or  select  only  that  portion  having  a  green  or  green- 
ish-yellow color.  The  writer  manufactured  a  quantity  of  the  tincture 
last  September,  which  has  all  been  prescribed  and  used  by  our  physi- 
cians, and  I  am  now  compelled  to  purchase  the  fluid  extract  to  supply 
the  demands.  One  of  our  medical  practitioners,  who  is  very  particu- 
lar, has  great  confidence  in  the  curative  properties  of  corn  silk ;  his 
choice  of  all  the  preparations  is  the  syrup  which  I  have  made  and 
would  recommend  to  be  made  from  the  fluid  extract.  This  is  an  expe- 
ditious mode  of  making  the  syrup,  and  one  which  is  entirely  satisfac- 
tory, the  syrup  containing  only  a  very  small  percentage  of  alcohol. 
The  diseases  for  which  corn  silk  is  recommended  are  of  such  a  nature 
— generally  of  an  inflammatory  character — that  the  patient  should  not 
use  alcohol  in  any  form,  because  it  produces  irritation,  and  irritants 
should  be  left  out  of  the  preparations  as  much  as  possible. 
Should  the  drug  prove  to  be  as  valuable  a  remedy  as  some  medical 
men  consider  it  to  be,  there  is  no  doubt  but  its  use  would  become  gen- 
eral. Either  the  fluid  extract  or  the  syrup,  or  both,  would  be  the  best 
preparations  to  recommend  for  introduction,  although  the  tincture 
gave  fair  satisfaction ;  yet  I  do  not  believe  it  to  be  the  most  suitable 
preparation. 
It  should  be  remembered  that  the  fresh  drug  contains  a  large 
amount  of  moisture ;  it  contains  certainly  not  less  than  fifty  per  cent., 
and  likely  considerably  more.  I  would  suggest  that  not  less  than 
double  the  quantity  of  the  drug  be  used ;  for  example,  if  a  hundred 
parts  of  syrup  or  tincture  was  to  represent  twelve  parts  of  the  dried 
material,  then  twenty-four  parts  of  the  fresh  or  green  corn  silk  should 
be  used.    I  would  recommend  the  following  formulas : 
