ON THE EXTRACT OF RHATANY. 
273 
ART. XXXIX REPORT OF THE COMMITTED CFARGED BY 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY WITH THE EXAMI- 
NATION OF A PAPER ENTITLED " OBSERVATIONS ON 
EXTRACT OF RHATANY, BY WILLIAM PROCTER, Jr." 
The subject of Extract of Rhatany, which has engaged 
Wm. Procter's attention, is one that has been particularly 
dwelt upon by the Messrs. Boullay in a very interesting and 
elaborate memoir upon the displacement system: it furnished 
them the type by which the results of the principle of lixivia- 
tion were beautifully prefigured. They proved conclusively 
that, by displacement only, and with cold water menstruum, 
could a good extract of this substance be obtained, having for 
its character perfect solubility and transparency. 
All the experiments of Wm. P., as detailed in his essay, 
tend to corroborate this assertion: besides exposing to view 
the disparity in the results of the different processes, they 
also exhibit in a lucid manner the chemical agency which air 
and temperature have upon the deterioration of the extract by 
the common methods of preparation. 
The observations of Wm. P., regarding the decortication 
of the root, are deserving of notice, as offering a readier means 
of conducting the lixiviation. Your committee would re- 
mark, from their own experience, that the best method of di- 
vision in the case of this root, (pounding in a mortar being too 
difficult,) is to have it ground in a mill, a large quantity at a 
time, to separate the bark from the ligneous portions, which 
latter, adhering together in large broken fibres, admit of be- 
ing easily picked out. The smaller fibres remaining cannot 
materially impair the preparation, owing to the limited time 
of contact of the woody fibre with the cold water; but if de- 
coction be employed, then the separation of the woody fibre 
becomes a matter of great importance. 
The experiments made by Wm. P. upon six different sam* 
