AMERICAN  EXTRACT  OF  LIQUORICE. 
311 
vapor,  but  it  serves  the  very  useful  purpose  of  being  an  excellent 
check  on  the  proper  preservation  of  the  contents ;  for  if  the 
bottle  be  examined  occasionally,  during  a  few  days  after  it  is 
laid  aside,  and  the  wax  be  found  to  retain  its  hardness,  it  may 
be  reasonably  concluded  that  the  vial  is  effectually  closed  ;  but 
if  the  wax  be  at  all  softened,  it  indicates  some  inaccuracy  in 
the  stopping  ;  the  cork  should  in  this  case  be  immediately  with- 
drawn, about  half  a  drachm  of  the  preserving  solution  poured 
in,  the  vial  re-stopped  with  a  new  cork,  and  finally  the  wax  re- 
applied. 
Too  much  stress  may  seem  to  be  laid  on  the  apparently  trivial 
circumstance  of  the  use  of  good  velvet  corks  ;  but  it  must  be  re- 
membered, the  success  of  the  process  depends  almost  entirely  on 
them,  for  it  will  be  found  by  practice  to  be  almost  impossible  to 
insure  the  perfect  closure  of  the  mouth  of  the  bottle  with  any 
but  this  kind  of  stopper,  as  the  vapor  of  the  ether  readily  passes 
through  the  pores  in  the  inferior  varieties  of  corks. 
The  heat  of  the  water  used  to  make  the  infusion  of  ergot,  is 
amply  sufficient  to  vaporize  and  expel  every  particle  of  the  cam. 
phor  and  ether  required  for  its  preservation. 
It  may  be  appropriate  to  mention,  that  I  have  administered 
ergot  which  had  been  preserved  in  this  way  for  over  eight 
years,  and  could  not  appreciate  the  least  deterioration  in  its  ef- 
ficacy. 
The  above  principle  might,  I  think,  be  advantageously  applied 
to  the  preservation  of  other  substances,  and  anhydrous  alcohol 
or  some  other  suitable  liquid  substituted  when  ether  would  be  in- 
admissible. 
Savannah,  June^th,  1855. 
AMERICAN  EXTRACT  OF  LIQUORICE. 
By  the  Editor. 
It  may  not  be  known  to  many  of  our  readers  that  of  late  years 
a  considerable  amount  of  extract  of  liquorice  has  been  prepared  in 
this  country  from  the  dried  root  of  Grlycyrrhiza  glabra  imported 
from  the  Mediterranean.  This  manufacture  is  chiefly  conducted 
at  the  laboratory  of  the  Messrs.  Tilden,  at  New  Lebanon,  Co- 
lumbia county,  New  York,  well  known  for  their  extensive  opera- 
