ON  THE  SYRUP  OF  IPECACUANHA. 
127 
by  Mr.  Robbins  is  pure  and  of  extraordinary  strength,  indicat. 
ing  it  to  be  the  inspissated  juice  of  the  capsule  of  the  poppy, 
unmixed  with  either  organic  or  inorganic  adulteration,  and  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  the  producer  will,  in  the  coming  season,  give 
his  earnest  attention  to  another  and  more  extended  experiment, 
particularly  in  relation  to  the  extraction  of  the  juice  so  as  to 
avoid  loss.  The  quantity  of  soil  under  culture  in  this  instance 
was  about  one-tenth  of  an  acre,  and  the  product  was  worth  at  the 
market  rate  per  single  pound  ($14.  t  =  $9.62)  worth  nearly 
$10  or  about  $100  per  acre.  If,  as  Mr.  Robbins  says,  he  obtained 
only  half  of  the  juice,  this  result  may  be  doubled.  Too  much 
stress  cannot  be  laid  on  the  importance  of  keeping  the  product 
unmixed  with  impurities,  and  especially  extractive  matter  as 
an  adulteration,  as  in  Mr.  Wilson's  so-called  opium,  which  is 
almost  wholly  an  extract  of  the  leaves  of  poppies. 
ON  THE  SYRUP  OF  IPECACUANHA. 
By  J.  B.  Moore 
In  the  last  revised  edition  of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  (1860) 
two  of  the  officinal  syrups  are  directed  to  be  made  by  simply 
mixing  the  fluid  extracts  of  their  respective  drugs,  in  proper 
proportion,  with  simple  syrup,  a  departure  from  the  usual  mode 
of  operating  which  I  think  is  open  to  very  serious  objection,  in 
view  of  the  great  uncertainty  of  the  strength  and  quality  of  fluid 
extracts,  as  it  is  well  known  to  the  pharmaceutical  profession  at 
large  that  fluid  extracts  are  the  most  unreliable  of  all  Galenical 
preparations.  If  all  apothecaries  were  adepts  in  percolation, 
and  were  qualified  by  much  practice  to  manufacture  fluid  ex- 
tracts for  themselves,  this  would  in  some  measure  justify  the  ac- 
tion of  the  committee  of  revision.  And  if  they  were  so  qualified, 
how  few  would  take  the  trouble  to  do  so  when  they  can  buy  them 
so  cheaply,  or  else  why  is  it  that  so  many  large  wholesale  manu- 
facturers of  this  class  of  pharmaceutical  preparations  can  find  a 
market  for  their  products. 
We  all  know  that  it  is  a  very  convenient  and  expeditious  way 
of  making  a  syrup,  to  prepare  it  from  a  fluid  extract ;  but  I  hold 
that  the  uniform  quality  and  standard  strength  of  any  medicinal 
