128 
ON  THE  SYRUP  OF  IPECACUANHA. 
agent  should  not  be  sacrificed  nor  placed  in  jeopardy  for  the 
sake  of  convenience  or  the  saving  of  a  little  trouble  and  labor, 
and  especially  not  in  a  preparation  so  important  as  that  of  syr. 
of  ipecac.  This  method,  therefore,  should  never  have  been 
sanctioned  by  so  high  an  authority  as  that  of  the  U.  S.  Phar- 
macopoeia. I  deprecate  it,  not  only  on  account  of  its  liability  to 
aiford  inefficient  and  unreliable  preparations  in  the  instances  re- 
ferred to,  but  also  because  of  the  evil  consequences  that  are 
likely  to  ensue  from  the  example.  It  is  establishing  a  prece- 
dent which  is  apt  to  engender  and  encourage  a  laxity  of  practice 
in  the  manufacture  of  other  pharmaceutical  preparations,  which 
would  be  highly  prejudicial  to  the  best  interests  of  medicine  and 
pharmacy.  Apothecaries  may  feel  justified  thereby,  and  I  think 
with  much  propriety,  in  following  the  same  short  method  in  mak- 
ing other  similar  preparations.  Now  if  this  practice  is  generally 
adopted,  and  I  know  that  it  is  followed  by  many  apothecaries, 
it  will  offer  to  the  medical  profession  a  sorry  set  of  medicinal 
agents  with  which  to  combat  disease. 
Unfortunately  the  fluid  extracts  from  which  the  two  officinal 
syrups  named  above  are  ordered  to  be  prepared  are  among  the 
most  difficult  and  unsatisfactory  to  make.  Complaints  of  the 
fid.  ext.  ipecac,  are  almost  universal,  and  there  are  but  few  who 
can  make  it  in  a  satisfactory  manner  for  making  the  syrup, 
owing  to  the  difficulty  of  completely  separating  the  resinous 
matter,  which  causes  an  unsightly  precipitate  when  added  to 
simple  syrup  and  mars  its  beauty  and  transparency. 
I  am  well  aware  that  the  old  formula  for  syr.  ipecac,  U.  S.  P. 
1850,  was  very  unsatisfactory,  on  account  of  the  tendency  of 
the  syrup  as  made  by  it  to  fermentation,  but  I  think  that  it  has 
been  supplanted  by  one  still  more  objectionable.  These  remarks 
will  also  apply  to  the  formula  for  syrup  of  rhubarb,  and  I  hope 
to  see  these  two  formulas  expunged  from  the  next  revised  edi- 
tion of  that  authoritative  work,  U.  S.  P.,  and  in  their  stead  good 
practicable  and  easily-worked  formulas  substituted,  by  which 
any  pharmacist  of  ordinary  intelligence  may  be  enabled  to  make 
their  preparations  in  a  correct  and  reliable  manner,  directly 
from  their  respective  drugs,  and  not  by  means  of  uncertain  fluid 
extracts. 
