298 
Elixir  of  Hops. 
f  Am.  Jour,  Pharm. 
I     July,  1875. 
Strong  as  the  menstruum  employed  in  making  the  officinal  tincture. 
Besides,  the  hops  are  percolated  in  the  proportion  of  two  troyounces  to 
twenty-four  fluidounces  of  menstruum,  and  also  with  the  additional  ad- 
vantage of  a  twenty-four  hours'  preliminary  maceration,  while  in  mak- 
ing the  officinal  tincture,  the  hops  are  percolated  in  the  proportion  of 
five  troyounces  to  thirty-two  fluidounces  of  menstruum. 
It  is  of  paramount  importance,  in  all  preparations  of  those  drugs 
which,  like  hops,  are  so  often  prescribed  in  diseases  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem when  the  stimulus  of  alcohol  is  so  frequently  injurious,  that  their 
alcoholic  strength  should  be  kept  down  to  the  minimum. 
The  manner  in  which  the  moistened  powder  should  be  placed  in  the 
vessel  for  the  preliminary  maceration  not  only  in  the  preparation  of 
this  elixir,  but  also  in  all  cases  where  such  preliminary  maceration  is 
required,  is  a  practical  point  of  sufficient  importance  to  justify  my  call- 
ing attention  to  it  in  this  place. 
Powders  intended  for  preliminary  maceration,  after  being  moistened, 
are  often  either  thrown  loosely  into  the  bottle  or  other  vessel  in  which 
the  process  is  to  be  conducted,  or  are  but  loosely  packed. 
Now,  in  all  cases,  and  especially  when  the  powders  are  light  and 
bulky,  after  they  have  been  properly  moistened  for  preliminary  macer- 
ation, they  should  be  packed  quite  firmly  in  the  vessel  in  which  they 
are  to  be  macerated. 
This  close  packing  confers  two  rather  important  advantages.  First^ 
it  confines  the  vapors  of  alcohol  or  other  menstruum,  and  often  pre- 
vents the  escape  and  partial  loss  of  volatile  principles,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  preliminary  maceration  of  wild-cherry  bark  in  making  the  syrup, 
&c.  Secondly,  it  keeps  the  menstruum  and  powder  in  close  and  inti- 
mate contact,  thus  allowing  the  former  to  exert  more  fully  and  equally 
its  softening,  solvent  and  chemical  action,  which  is  desirable  in  all  cases, 
but  highly  essential  in  some  ;  as  a  type  of  the  latter,  wild-cherry  bark 
may  be  again  mentioned. 
Whereas,  if  the  powder  is  carelessly  thrown  into  the  vessel  or  only 
loosely  packed,  the  menstruum  will  be  found  in  a  short  time  to  have 
settled  to  the  bottom  of  the  mass  of  powder  with  its  lower  strata,  while 
the  upper  strata  will  be  found  at  the  end  of  the  maceration  almost  en- 
tirely dry. 
Every  observing  pharmacist  must  have  noticed  this  in  the  course  of 
his  manipulations  ;  and  that  this  is  especially  liable  to  be  the  case  when 
