ON  FLUID  EXTRACTS. 
341 
relieve  the  difficulty  in  the  least ;  such  has  been,  and  such  will 
be  the  case  so  long  as  this  difference  exists.  It  may  be  further 
urged  that  all  this  class  of  fluid  extracts  (the  narcotic)  are  far 
more  concentrated  than  is  desirable,  either  for  the  physician  or 
the  pharmacist. 
There, is  an  old  saying,  that  "  if  the  mountain  will  not  come  to 
Mahomet,  Mahomet  must  go  to  the  mountain."  In  this  case  it 
may  apply,  and  even  at  the  risk  of  apparent  concession,  it  may 
still  be  both  prudent  and  right  to  concede,  Where  it  is  evident 
folly  and  injury  to  insist. 
The  pharmacist  will  rarely,  and  the  specialist  will  never,  make 
their  fluid  extracts  according  to  the  present  officinal  formulas, 
nor  by  others  involving  similar  objections,  for  evident  reasons. 
Why  not  change  the  standard  to  one  that  each  will  faithfully  ob- 
serve, for  similar  reasons,  ^.  6.,  self-profit.  All  of  the  more 
powerful  could  be  more  safely  used,  be  more  uniform  and  more 
reliable,  if  made  of  the  reduced  strength,  which,  at  least,  would 
counterbalance  any  apparent  objection  in  those  less  powerful ; 
further,  all  the  fluid  extracts  could  be  of  uniform  strength,  in- 
cluding cinchona  and  wild  cherry. 
By  following  the  proposed  method  of  Mr.  Bartlett,  each  |)har- 
macist,  no  matter  how  limited  his  trade,  could  properly  prepare 
his  own  fluid  extracts,  without  needless  loss  of  material,  or  un- 
necessary expense,  a  desideratum  that  no  other  method  pro- 
posed will  accomplish,  yet  of  the  greatest  importance,  both  to 
the  individual,  and  in  its  influence  upon  the  progress  of  phar- 
macy. 
Let  us,  by  all  means,  have  formulas  for  this  very  important 
class  of  preparations,  which  shall  commend  their  use  to  the  re- 
tail apothecary,  and,  in  view  of  the  near  approach  of  the  revision 
of  the  pharmacopoeia,  no  time  is  so  opportune  as  the  present  for 
agitating  the  question  of  what  the  standard  strength  and  process 
shall  be. 
The  following  table  illustrates  the  proper  dose  of  nearly  all  of 
the  fluid  extracts  (officinal  strength)  which  are  largely  prescribed, 
except  the  cinchona  and  wild  cherry,  of  which  the  strength  will 
not  be  changed  by  the  proposed  reduction : 
