Obs. Essence of ambergris is used as a perfume, and is added in small quantities to sweet-scented spirits and wines, to improve their flavour and aroma. A very small quantity of any one of them added to lavender water, eau de Cologne, tooth-powder, hair-powder, wash-balls, or a hogshead of claret, communicates a delicious fragrance. See Ambergris and Essence Royale (below).
Essence d’Ambrette. [Fr.] Syn. Essence of musk seed, Spirit of m. s.; Esprit d’ambrette, Fr. Prep. 1. Musk seed (ground in a clean pepper-mill), 11⁄4 lb.; rectified spirit, 3 pints; digest for 3 or 4 weeks in a warm place, and filter.
2. Musk seed, 4 lbs.; rectified spirit, 1 gal.; digest 10 days, add water, 2 quarts, and distil over 1 gal. Very fine.
Essence of Ammoni′acum. Syn. Concentrated tincture of ammoniacum; Essentia ammoniaci, Tinctura a. concentrata, L. Prep. 1. Ammoniacum (in tears), 1 lb., is bruised in a very cold marble mortar with half its weight of coarse and well-washed siliceous sand or powdered glass, and rectified spirit, 1⁄2 pint, gradually added; the trituration is continued until the whole is reduced to a smooth paste, and is then placed in a wide-mouthed bottle, and spirit of wine, 11⁄2 pint, further added; the whole is then digested together for a week with constant agitation, and after sufficient repose to settle, the supernatant transparent liquid is decanted into another bottle for use.
2. Gum ammoniacum, 1 lb., is reduced to a cream with boiling water, 3⁄4 pint; as soon as the mixture has cooled a little, it is placed in a strong bottle, and rectified spirit of wine, 11⁄4 pint, is cautiously added; the mixture is then corked down close, and the whole macerated for a few days; the bottle is next placed in a moderately warm situation, that the sediment may subside, after which the clearer portion is poured off through flannel into another bottle.
Obs. This preparation is used as a substitute for the gum in substance, for extemporaneously preparing emulsion of ammoniacum, mixture of a., &c. It is represented to possess fully the same amount of medicinal virtue as an equal weight of the solid gum, on which account it has a considerable sale. The product of the first formula, when well managed, is a beautiful pale brownish-coloured, transparent tincture; that of the second is milky and less sightly. The preparation generally sold under the name of ‘CONCENTRATED ESSENCE OF AMMONIACUM’ (ESSENTIA AMMONIACI CONCENTRATA, L.), and represented as twice as strong as the gum in substance, is generally prepared by the first formula given above for ESSENCE OF AMMONIACUM. A stronger article may be prepared by a similar process, by using 1 lb. of ammoniacum to a pint of the strongest rectified spirit. As, however, a clear liquid at this strength is somewhat difficult to produce, it is very seldom attempted by the druggists; they therefore generally content themselves with sending out the liquid at half the professed strength, leaving the label to confer the additional concentration. See Ammoniacum.
Essence of Anchov′ies. Syn. Essentia clupeæ, L. Prep. 1. Anchovies, 1 lb., are ‘boned,’ reduced to a pulp in a wedgwood-ware or marble mortar, and passed through a clean hair or brass-wire sieve: meanwhile the bones and other portion that will not pass through the sieve are boiled with water, 1 pint, for 15 minutes, and strained; to the strained liquor, salt, and flour, of each, 21⁄2 oz., together with the pulped anchovies are added, and the whole simmered for 3 or 4 minutes, when the vessel is removed from the fire, and as soon as the mixture has cooled a little, strong pickling vinegar, 1⁄2 pint, is mixed in; it is then bottled, and the corks tied over with bladder, and either ‘waxed’ or ‘capsuled.’ Product, 3 lbs. (nearly).
2. Anchovies, 7 lbs.; water, 9 pints; salt and flour, of each, 1 lb. Product, 20 lbs.
3. To the last add of Cayenne pepper, 1⁄4 oz.; the peel of a lemon (grated), and mushroom catsup, 4 oz. Very savoury.
4. From British anchovies (pickled sprats) or young pilchards, along with herring liquor, or the drainings of anchovy barrels.