486 
Extract  of  Malt, 
j  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
i       Oct.,  1883. 
tase  in  a  very  short  time,  and  any  continned  application  of  heat  at  or 
above  130°  Fah.  will  within  a  moderate  period  render  it  inactive. 
Hence  it  is  that  we  now  donbt  the  advisability  of  applying  any  heat 
to  a  preparation  of  malt,  and  we  certainly  have  every  reason  to  believe 
that  pharmacists  generally  will  always  be  debarred  through  want  of 
proper  facilities  from  preparing  an  active  malt  extract  unless  it  be  as  a 
fluid  extract. 
In  the  paper  of  Mr.  Cowdrey,  and  as  illustrated  by  his  experiments, 
it  was  stated  and  shown  that  4  drachms  of  a  viscid-like  extract  of 
malt  could  quickly  convert  into  dextrin  and  glucose  5  drachms  of 
starch  which  had  been  boiled  with  water.^  This  conversion  of  gelati- 
nous starch  into  glucose  we  have  also  easily  accomplished  by  means 
of  an  equal  bulk  of  fluid  extract  of  malt,  although  we  do  not  claim 
that  it  is  desirable  to  introduce  a  process  into  the  Pharmacopoeia  to- 
represent  a  proportion  of  crude  material  to  finished  product  different 
from  that  of  the  other  fluid  extracts.  It  is  for  the  purpose  of  sug- 
gesting a  formula  for  making  such  a  preparation  (fluid  extract  of 
malt)  that  we  have  written  this  paper,  for  in  the  literature  which  we 
have  at  our  command  on  this  subject,  although  the  fact  is  shown  that 
heat  will  destroy  diastase,  and  that  an  extract  can  be  made  to  contain 
diastase,  any  reference  to  the  method  of  preparing  such  an  extract  is 
omitted. 
To  prepare  a  fluid  extract  of  malt  which  will  represent  as  nearly  as 
practical  one  part  of  malt  to  one  part  of  the  finished  product  we  have 
recently  followed  the  process  adopted  by  us  with  some  other  substances 
which  will  not  bear  the  application  of  heat.  Tall  cylindrical  perco- 
lators should  be  used,  and  a  menstruum  composed  of  a  mixture  of  one 
part  of  alcohol  to  four  parts  of  water.^  The  ground  malt  is  moistened 
with  this  menstruum,  and  after  one  hour  is  packed  carefully  into  the 
percolator,  and  not  too  firmly.  The  remainder  of  the  menstruum  is 
then  added,  and  when  the  percolate  appears  the  exit  is  closed  and 
maceration  conducted  for  twenty-four  hours.  Then  the  percolate  is 
slowly  withdrawn  until  it  is  equal  in  weight  to  three^fourths  the 
amount  of  malt  employed.    This  product  is  placed  in  a  tall  vessel, 
^  Mr.  Cowdrey  only  exhibited  sucli  an  extract.  He  did  not  give  the  pro- 
cess by  which  it  was  made. 
2  We  liave  found  during  our  exiDeriments  tliat  if  less  amount  of  alcohol  is 
used,  occasional  fermentation  follows.  Hence  it  is  that  we  suggest  the 
above-named  proportion. 
