COD-LIVER  CREAM. 
247 
the  alkaloids  can  be  rendered  evident  bj  their  action  upon  ani- 
mals and  by  various  reagents,  such  as  iodhydrargyrate  of  potash 
or  tannin.  The  purpose  for  which  the  author  designs  these  ex- 
tracts is  the  manufacture  of  medicated  oils,  a  class  of  prepara- 
tions scarcely  ever  used  in  this  country ;  but  his  memoir  is 
interesting,  as  illustrating  the  applications  to  which  this  most 
valuable  solvent,  bisulphide  of  carbon,  is  capable  of  being 
adapted.  These  "  sulpho-carbonic  extracts"  would  be  worth 
trying  in  the  preparation,  for  instance,  of  certain  of  the  plasters, 
since  they  are  all  easily  miscible  with  fatty  matters.  Bisulphide 
of  carbon  might  be  employed  with  advantage  to  replace  ether  in 
certain  cases,  as  well  as  in  such  an  instance  as  the  following, 
given  by  M.  Lefort :  Camomile  flowers  contain  two  odorous  prin- 
ciples, the  one  volatile,  the  other  fixed,  but  which  are  both  very 
soluble  in  bisulphide  of  carbon.  An  extract  of  the  flowers  can 
easily  be  made  by  first  bruising  them  in  a  mortar,  without  dry- 
ing, and  then  exhausting  as  in  the  other  cases.  5  per  cent,  of 
semisolid  extract  is  obtained,  which  unites  all  the  properties  of 
the  camomiles. 
M.  Lefort  employs  maceration  ;  probably  in  many  cases  per- 
colation would  be  found  to  answer  better. — Pharm.  Journ.^  Lon- 
don, April,  1870. 
COD-LIYER  CREAM. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal : 
Sir — The  following  is  worthy  of  mention  in  your  Journal  as 
an  admirable  recipe  for  a  preparation  that  is  somewhat  exten- 
sively vended  in  several  parts  of  the  country  under  the  alluring 
title  of  ''Cod-liver  Cream." 
A  quarter  of  an  ounce  of  elect  gum  tragacanth,  steeped  in 
sixteen  ounces  of  cold  water  for  twenty-four  hours — during 
which  time  it  should  be  stirred  occasionally — yields  a  fine,  gela- 
tinous mucilage,  which,  when  mixed  in  any  proportion  with  Cod- 
liver  Oil  and  simply  shaken  with  it,  permanently  difi'uses  the  oil 
into  particles,  which  in  vain  struggle  for  reunion. 
It  is  usual  to  mix  the  mucilage  and  oil  in  equal  parts,  and  it 
is  further  only  required  to  sweeten,  and  add,  as  a  preservative 
