566 
Ipecacuanha  Wine. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
>fov.,  iS8o. 
tion,  is  of  but  little  moment.  Addition  of  phosphoric  acid  to  syrup 
already  discolored  is  of  no  avail  ;  the  mischief  has  been  done  and  no 
persalt  remains  for  it  to  act  upon.  If,  however,  previous  to  the  addi- 
tion of  the  acid,  a  few  drops  of  liqour  potassae  be  stirred  into  the  syrup 
the  color  disappears  almost  immediately,  and,  the  acid  being  in  slight 
excess,  will  not  again  return. 
Thus  I  found  by  experiment  that  when  to  half  a  fluidounce  of  syrup 
discolored  by  one  drop  of  liquor  ferri  perchloridi,  I  added  enough  liquor 
potassae  (the  amount  would  vary  according  to  the  acidity  of  the  syrup) 
to  produce  a  distinct  greenish  coloration,  the  further  addition  of  twa 
drops  of  dilute  phosphoric  acid  restored  the  syrup  to  its  original  tint. 
The  use  of  hyposulphite  for  this  purpose  is  of  course  well  known, 
but  its  employment  is  in  my  opinion  not  so  recommendable  as  that  I 
have  just  described. 
The  paper  will,  I  fear,  be  regarded  as  simply  hateful  and  utterly  un- 
orthodox bv  the  few  ;  but  the  many  will,  I  hope,  not  be  displeased  to 
learn  how  of  two  evils  to  choose  the  least. — Pharm.  your,  and  Trans. y 
Sept.  i8,  iSSo. 
IPECACUANHA  WINE. 
By  J.  B.  Barnes,  F.CS. 
Upon  looking  over  Dr.  Dyce  Duckworth's  paper,  read  at  an  evening 
meeting  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  in  iVIarch,  1872,  entitled  "Notes^ 
on  the  Pharmacy  of  Ipecacuanha/'  it  occurred  to  me  that  the  wine 
might  be  improved  by  a  modification  of  the  plan  proposed  by  Mr. 
Carteighe  for  the  preparation  of  the  acetum  and  the  oxymel  of  ipecac- 
uanha. 
His  prescription  for  the  preparation  of  the  acetum  is  to  macerate  an 
ounce  of  bruised  ipecacuanha  root  in  a  fluidounce  of  acetic  acid  for  24^ 
hours,  pack  in  a  percolator,  and  pour  distilled  water  over  it  until  one 
pint  of  percolate  has  been  obtained. 
The  modification  consists  in  evaporating  the  acetum  thus  obtained 
over  a  water-bath  to  dryness,  and  subsequent  maceration  of  the  dry 
extract  in  a  pint  of  sherry  wine  for  48  hours,  and  filtration.  By  this 
means  a  rich  brown  solution  is  obtained,  which,  although  made  eight 
months  since,  has  not  thrown  down  the  unsightly  muddy  sediment  so 
well  known  to  be  the  case  when  ipecacuanha  wine  of  the  Pharmacopceia" 
is  kept  beyond  a  few  weeks. 
