1070

ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.

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percolation is scarcely necessary, and, therefore, only adds to t«eand expense of the process. Any active matter lost by omitting » 0 flation, may be easily compensated for, by increasing the <l u r _^ e en i-juice employed, the cost of which scarcely deserves notice. ^ pieployment of tincture of cardamom is objectionable, since it P re L rapothecary from forming a judgment of the colour, taste, and sine Rationthe effect of potash on, this preparation. And lastly, if the P e {? areprocess be adopted, surely the directions of the Edinburgh L° ® jjingtoo loose. The quantity of water which is to be employedthrough the spirit should be accurately defined, or it will be imp 0 (to have preparations made at different times, and by different p er g y 0 nguniform strength. Good tincture of hemlock should evolve a ^eni'odour of conia on the addition of potash. An excellent tincture ^ ee) ilock, prepared by adding rectified spirit to the expressed juice, .j^ gn d-shewn me by Mr. Bentley, Chemist, of Moorgate Street. In 183 1 g g jMed. Gaz. xix. 770) I recommended the use of an alcoholic tm .the bruised fruit. More recently, Dr. Osborne ( Dub. Journ. xV J’has advised the same. _ ,. ^ arc

Tinctura conii, L- D. is given in doses of f3ss. or f3j. "b c0 nii-to be gradually increased until some effect is produced. TincturE. must be employed more cautiously; though the quantity of beleaves used by the Edinburgh College would, if dried, be scarce ^that employed by the London and Dublin Colleges (as 1000 p art s a iidfresh leaves yield only 185 parts when dried, according to He n ’Guibourt, Pharm. Raison, i. 27). The drying, however, asalready noticed, greatly deteriorates the activity of the leaves. j^jn-3. Extbactum Conii, L. E. Succus inspissatus Conii, D. (Ef eS stoJ j6lock leaves, lb. j.; bruise them, sprinkled with a little water, m 0 petmortar; then press out the juice, and evaporate it, unstrained, to a ^consistence, L. The Dublin College directs it to be prepared JS ofspissated juice of Aconite. The following are the directions t jtEdinburgh College : “ Take of Conium any convenient quantity) j je tin a uniform pulp in a marble mortar, express the juice, and fih er 1this juice be evaporated to the consistence of a very firm extract, reS sd sin a vacuum with the aid of heat, or spontaneously in shallow Jj-jjisexposed to a strong current of air freed of dust by gauze skreens- jgextract is of good quality only when a very strong odour ot c a qUUdisengaged by degrees, on its being carefully triturated Wi g0 ,potassm.”)—Most of the extract of the shops is inert, or nea 7^. alJ“We were one day,” says Orfila ( Toxicol. Gen. ii.)'“ in the shop^apothecary, who had several times furnished us with the extract 0 , ^g,lock, which we had administered to dogs to the dose of ten » towithout producing any serious accident. We endeavoured to P ^ c ehim that the medicine was badly prepared; and, in order to cohim effectually, we swallowed, in the presence of several perso ^g)happened to be in his shop, a drachm of this extract (seventy-two fe^gtdissolved in two drachms of water. We felt no effect fromib ”p r0 -twenty or thirty grains of the extract, well prepared, would hav L &bably proved fatal to us. Let it be conceived now what advan^person is likely to derive from such an extract, who takes one

grains of it per day, or even thirty or forty, with therid of a scirrhous tumour, or of any other disease.”

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