3. (Wholesale.) The formulæ adopted by the wholesale druggists are mere modifications of that of the Ph. L. 1809; water being used instead of spirit as the menstruum, with actual benefit, as we honestly believe, to the quality of the preparation. The following are extensively employed by those who do most in this article, and we can speak highly of the quality of the products obtained by their use.
a. Turkey colocynth, 18 lbs., is boiled in about 20 times its weight of water for five or six hours; to the strained decoction is added hepatic aloes, 40 lbs., which are boiled until dissolved, when the solution is decanted. In the mean time the colocynth is exhausted with a second quantity of water (less than the first), and the strained liquor is added to the undissolved residuum of the aloes, and boiled for a few minutes; after which it is drawn off and mixed with the first decoction of aloes; the mixed liquors are then allowed to stand until quite cold (commonly until the next day), to deposit the resinous portion. The liquor is next decanted or drawn off, and set evaporating as quickly as possible; as soon as the consistence of treacle is arrived at, the whole is allowed to cool considerably, and moist sugar (clean), 4 lbs., and Castile soap, 10 lbs. (previously melted with a little water), are added; powdered scammony, 6 lbs., is next gradually sifted in, the extract all the time being assiduously stirred by a second person. Lastly, the heat is further moderated, and the stirring continued until a rather harder consistence is acquired than is proper for the extract, when the steam is wholly ‘shut off,’ or the vessel removed from the heat, and as soon as the whole has become sufficiently cool to prevent any considerable evaporation of the spirit, essence of cardamoms, 2 lbs. (say 1 quart), is expertly stirred in; and the extract at once (whilst still warm) put into stone jars or pots, and tied or covered over for store or use. The product is usually labelled ‘Ext. Colocynth. Comp. Opt.’ It looks well, and smells very aromatic, and is really an excellent preparation.
b. Turkey colocynth, 21⁄4 lbs.; hepatic aloes, 51⁄2 lbs.; powdered scammony, 11⁄2 lb.; powdered cardamoms, 6 oz. (or essence, 1⁄2 pint); Castile soap (genuine), 1 lb. 2 oz.; pale moist sugar, 1⁄2 lb.; proceed as last. This produces a beautiful article, and of unquestionable quality, equally effective, and milder in its action than the College preparation. It is labelled and sent out as Ext. Colocynth. Comp. Ph. L. (1836).
4. (Ph. L. 1809.) Colocynth, 6 dr. (6 parts); aloes, 11⁄2 oz. (12 parts); scammony, 1⁄2 oz. (4 parts); hard soap, 3 dr. (3 parts); cardamoms, 1 dr. (1 part); as No. 3, a (nearly).
Qual., &c. Compound extract of colocynth is often adulterated with acrid cathartics to make up for the deficiency or inferiority of its proper ingredients, and foreign matter often becomes mixed with it by the use of impure scammony. The presence of cape aloes may usually be detected by the nauseous odour; chalk (an article frequently present in bad scammony), by placing a little ball of the extract in a glass tube, and pouring over it some dilute hydrochloric or acetic acid, when an effervescence will ensue if that substance be present; jalap, scammony adulterated with fecula, and other starchy substances, by the filtered decoction of the extract turning blue on the addition of tincture of iodine; gamboge, by the decoction becoming deep red on the addition of liquor of potassa, and by a filtered alcoholic solution of the extract forming a yellow emulsion with water, which becomes transparent and assumes a deep-red colour on the addition of caustic potassa; and further, by this solution (if the alkali is not in excess) giving a yellow precipitate with acids and with acetate of lead, a brown precipitate with sulphate of copper, and a very dark brown one with the salts of iron; also by the ethereal solution of the extract dropped on water yielding an opaque yellow film, soluble in caustic potassa if it contains gamboge.
Dose, 3 gr. to 15 gr. It is a safe and mild, yet certain, purgative. It may be mixed with calomel without the latter being decomposed. 21⁄2 or 3 gr., mixed with an equal weight of blue pill and taken overnight forms an excellent
aperient in dyspepsia, liver complaints, &c. See Abernethy Medicines.
Obs. There are few formulæ which have undergone so many alterations in the hands of the College as that for compound extract of colocynth. Before 1809, proof spirit was ordered to be employed as the menstruum, and, omitting the soap, the preparation resembled that of the Ph. L. 1836. In 1809, the College directed water to be used instead of spirit, and added a certain quantity of soap. In the next edition of the Pharmacopœia (1815), the soap was again omitted; but in the edition of 1824, the formula of 1809 was again adopted, substituting, however, proof spirit for the water. These directions were also continued in the edition of 1836. In the last London Pharmacopœia (1851) the formula for this extract is omitted altogether, and in its place a pill (PILULA COLOCYNTHIDIS COMPOSITA) is inserted.
The compound extract of colocynth and the simple and compound extracts of sarsaparilla are in greater demand in the wholesale trade, and are sold in larger quantities at a time, than all the other medicinal extracts put together. As a proof, if it were necessary, that honesty is the best policy, it may be mentioned that a certain metropolitan druggist, remarkable for the superiority of this preparation, has obtained no inconsiderable fortune by its sale alone; while the host of miserable vendors of the evaporated decoction of musty colocynth seed, Cape aloes, worthless scammony, and scentless cardamoms, sold under the name, attempt to ruin each other by offering their rubbish at a price that precludes the possibility of a large profit, or even of the establishment of a respectable connection.
Extract of Conia. See Extract of Hemlock.