THE 
AMERICAN JOURNAL 
O F 
PHARMACY. 
JULY, 1836. 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
ART. XIII. — APPARATUS FOR MAKING INFUSIONS. By Ro- 
bert Alsop, London, Honorary Member of the Philad. Coll. Pharm. 
A more uniform and effective mode of preparing the medi- 
cinal infusions than that in common use, together with some 
simple means for their preservation, so as to admit of their 
extemporaneous use, have long appeared to me problems of 
some importance in practical pharmacy. My time is so much 
engaged in other concerns as to leave little leisure for scientific 
pursuits, except in those departments which the ordinary 
course of business presents; I have pleasure, however, in con- 
tributing my mite, through the medium of this Journal, to- 
wards the advancement of my favourite study. 
Every one must have remarked, when preparing infusions 
in the common mode, without repeated agitation, the appear- 
ance of a denser stratum at the bottom of the vessel, highly 
charged with the soluble and active part of the substance em- 
ployed; this dense solution cannot but obstruct the complete 
extraction, by cutting off contact with the unsaturated portion 
of fluid, and I have endeavoured to present the medicinal sub- 
stance under circumstances to which this objection will not 
apply. 
To this end, I propose the use of an earthenware vessel, 
similar in construction to one that I have myself emploj^ed, 
VOL. II.— no. h. 12 
