ECONOMIZING  ALCOHOL  IN  MAKING  FLUID  EXTRACTS.  219 
the  Pharmacopoeia  process  or  Dr.  Squibb's  method,  and  will 
produce  more  regular  and  uniform  results  than  either.  Dr. 
Squibb  is  also  wrong  in  so  publicly  questioning  the  validity 
of  my  patent,  as  his  instance  given,  where  he  had  used,  as  he 
says,  the  same  process,  happens  to  have  been  in  making  a  solid, 
and  not  a  fluid  extract. 
My  patent  is  only  on  my  particular  process  for  making  Fluid 
Extracts,  by  means  of  which  the  object  is  accomplished,  and 
heat,  evaporation  and  prolonged  exposure  to  air  are  all  avoided. 
I  do  not  claim  a  press,  or  the  use  of  a  press — it  happens  that 
the  process  cannot  be  carried  out  without  using  a  powerful 
press,  but  any  sufficiently  powerful  press  can  be  used.  The  plan 
or  process  consists  in  merely  moistening  the  properly  ground 
drug  with  three-fourths  of  its  weight  of  menstruum,  allowing  it 
to  stand  a  few  hours,  then  submitting  it  to  a  very  powerful  pres- 
sure, then  breaking  up  the  cake,  and  adding  the  remaining  one- 
fourth  of  its  weight  of  menstruum,  and,  after  thoroughly  incorpo- 
rating the  fluid  with  the  drug,  again  submitting  it  to  the  same  pres- 
sure ;  this,  with  the  first  pressing,  can  be  weighed  or  measured, 
and,  by  subtracting  this  amount  from  the  amount  of  finished  ex- 
tract required,  gives  the  amount  of  liquid  yet  to  be  applied  to  the 
drug,  to  make  the  required  amount  of  finished  extract,  and  can 
all  be  applied  for  a  third  pressing,  or  be  divided  for  a  third  and 
fourth  pressing ;  when  these  various  pressings  are  mixed,  the 
extract  is  finished. 
Presses  can  now  be  furnished  for  two  hundred  and  twenty-five 
dollars,  capable  of  effectually  carrying  out  this  process ;  and  I 
am  now  granting  individual  rights  to  use  the  process  for  a  small 
patent  fee  on  each  pound  of  extract,  when  made.  By  this  plan, 
no  investment  is  required  in  advance  for  patent  fee,  and  only 
two  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  for  apparatus,  as  nothing  is 
required  but  the  press.  The  matter  has  been  neglected  for  over 
a  year,  because  I  did  not  suppose  it  could  be  carried  out  at  an 
outlay  of  less  than  two  or  three  times  the  amount  of  money ; 
but,  by  reducing  the  size  without  reducing  the  power  of  the 
press,  and  putting  the  patent  fee  in  the  form  of  royalty,  almost 
every  apothecary  is  enabled  to  avail  himself  of  the  advantages 
of  this  process.    The  fee  will  be  less  than  the  actual  saving  of 
