THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
JVLT,  1875. 
FLUID  EXTRACT  OF  GOSSTPIUM  HERBACEUM. 
BY  J.  U.  LLOYD. 
In  the  January  number  of  this  Journal,  Prof.  Maisch  calls  our  atten- 
tion to  a  fraud  in  the  shape  of  a  spurious  bark,  purporting  to  be  that  of 
the  Gossypium  herhaceum.  This  bark  was  obtained  from  a  wholesale  store, 
and  was,  either  intentionally  or  through  ignorance,  thrown  upon  the  mar- 
ket as  that  of  the  officinal  cotton-root  bark.  Be  this  as  it  may,  how- 
ever, the  above  mentioned  article  in  the  January  journal  was  the  means 
of  directing  the  attention  of  physicians  and  druggists  generally  through- 
out the  country  to  this  bark  and  its  preparations,  and  they  are  now  dis- 
posed (very  justly)  to  examine  rather  critically  any  pharmaceutical  that 
comes  within  their  observation  which  is  purported  to  have  been  pre- 
pared from  this  bark. 
A  short  time  since,  one  of  our  retail  druggists  complained  to  me  of 
a  specimen  of  this  fluid  extract.  It  was  prepared  by  a  reliable  manu- 
facturer of  pharmaceuticals  in  this  city,  and  when  purchased  by  him 
seemed  prime  and  trustworthy.  It  was  originally  of  a  rich  deep  red 
color,  and  evidently  gave  satisfaction.  At  any  rate  there  was  no  com- 
plaint made  of  it,  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  he  dispensed  it  several  times. 
However,  when  about  one-fourth  of  the  bottle  had  been  used,  he  was 
surprised  one  day  upon  attempting  to  fill  a  prescription  to  find  the  re- 
mainder had  gelatinized,  or,  perhaps,  the  word  curdled  would  better  ex- 
press it ;  for  when  it  was  exhibited  to  me  it  presented  the  form  of  a 
brown,  soft  curdy  mass,  from  which,  upon  inclining  the  bottle,  a  very 
small  amount  of  an  almost  colorless  liquid  would  exude.  The  extract 
had  lost  its  rich  red  color,  and  the  liquid  that  dripped  from  the  coagula- 
ted substance  exhibited  a  decided  acid  reaction. 
The  brown  magma  would  not  dissolve  in  either  alcohol  or  water, 
while  dilute  acids  and  alkalies  alike  seemed  not  to  affect  it. 
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