PROPOSED  ECONOMY  OF  ALCOHOL  IN  PERCOLATION,  ETC.  121 
In  concluding  the  experiments  with  fluid  extract  of  colchicum 
seed,  it  was  determined  to  see  how  far  facts  would  corroborate 
the  general  statement  made  in  the  early  part  of  this  paper,  per- 
haps somewhat  loosely  as  a  matter  of  judgment  or  opinion  rather 
than  as  an  established  fact,  namely,  that  the  high  price  of  alco- 
hol had  tended  to  debasement  as  well  as  to  disuse  of  this  conve- 
nient class  of  preparations. 
Two  bottles  of  the  commercial  fluid  extract  of  colchicum  seed, 
purporting  to  contain  one-quarter  of  a  pound  each,  were  pur- 
chased from  an  undoubted  source.  These  were  of  different 
manufacture,  and  the  two  makers  of  these  fluid  extracts  together, 
perhaps,  supply  four-fifths  of  the  entire  demand  of  the  United 
States  for  these  preparations.  The  labels  of  these  bottles  bear 
the  officinal  name  in  English.  One  has  the  sentence,  u  Dose,  5 
to  15  drops;"  the  other,  "Dose,  five  to  twenty  drops,  gradually 
increased."  The  first  of  these  was  much  lighter  in  color  than 
the  officinal,  more  fluid,  and  had  a  whisky  odor,  as  though  made 
from  whisky  instead  of  alcohol.  It  yielded  15-28  grains  of  dry 
extract  to  the  fluidounce,  or  about  one-sixth  of  the  proportion 
(89*5  grains)  yielded  by  the  officinal  preparation.  This  prepa- 
ration was  swallowed  in  doses  gradually  increased  up  to  two 
and  a  half  times  the  standard  dose  of  the  officinal  preparation, 
under  precisely  similar  conditions,  without  producing  any  sensi- 
ble effect  whatever,  and  was  then  abandoned  for  want  of  time 
to  try  it  farther.  It  can  therefore  be  at  best  but  little  over  one- 
third  the  medicinal  strength  of  the  officinal  preparation.  This 
fluid  extract  was  sold  to  the  writer  at  90  cents  for  the  quarter 
of  a  pound  and  bottle. 
The  second  bottle  is  about  the  color  of  the  officinal,  but  much 
more  transparent.  It  contained  a  small  proportion  of  sediment 
of  a  light  color,  and  had  a  slight  odor  of  caramel,  with  but  little 
odor  of  spirit  or  alcohol.  It  yielded  114*92  grains  of  dry  ex- 
tract to  the  fluidounce,  or  nearly  one-third  more  than  the  officinal 
preparation,  and  this,  in  drying  on  the  water  bath,  became  very 
mucilaginous  and  tough,  as  though  it  mainly  consisted  of  gum, 
and  was  wholly  unlike  the  extract  from  the  officinal  preparation. 
For  want  of  time,  this  preparation  could  not  be  tried  them- 
