The COMPOUND INFUSION OF ROSES is principally used as a vehicle for sulphate of quinine, saline purgatives, and some other medicines. It is astringent and refrigerant, and, when diluted with water, forms a pleasant drink in febrile disorders, phthisical sweats, hæmorrhages, diarrhœa, &c. It also makes a very useful astringent gargle.—Dose, 1 to 4 fl. oz.; either alone or diluted with water. It is incompatible with the alkalies and earths, and their carbonates and their bicarbonates.
3. (Concentrated; Infusum rosæ concentratum, L.)—a. Rose petals, 10 oz.; boiling distilled water, 3 pints; infuse for 2 hours, with frequent agitation, express the liquid, strain through a clean hair sieve, and add of dilute sulphuric acid, 41⁄2 fl. oz.; after agitation for 5 or 6 minutes, and repose for 2 or 3 hours, decant the clear portion, and filter through paper supported on calico; next, dissolve in the liquid 11⁄4 lb. of the finest white sugar, broken up into small lumps, but perfectly free from dust and dirt; lastly, pour the infusion into clean, stoppered, green-glass bottles, and, as much as possible, keep them from the light, and in a cool place.
b. Rose petals, 31⁄4 lbs.; boiling water, 2 gall.; diluted sulphuric acid, 24 fl. oz.; finest white sugar, 61⁄2 lbs.; as the last.
c. The same quantity of dilute sulphuric acid and cold water, as before; mix, and infuse the rose leaves in the liquid for 48 hours, then express, filter, and add the sugar. Product very fine, and keeps well without becoming gelatinous.
Obs. This preparation is 8 times as strong as that of the Ph. L. (2, a). Great care should be taken that the utensils are perfectly clean, especially the press, if one is employed; and earthenware glazed with lead should be avoided. The pressing should also be conducted as rapidly as possible, to avoid the colour being injured by the iron. Clean wrought iron does not readily injure the colour of infusion of roses before the addition of the acid. When the last formula is adopted, strong pressure of the
leaves with the hands can alone be safely had recourse to. If the infusion does not filter quite clear through paper, it should be set aside for a few days, when, in general, it will be found to filter more readily and satisfactorily. Should it be wanted for immediate sale, the addition of the whites of 2 or 3 eggs, diluted with 2 or 3 ounces of water, followed by violent agitation of the liquid for a few minutes, and repose for an hour or two, will usually render it ‘fine,’ when it may be either decanted, or filtered should it require it. It will now pass rapidly through ordinary filtering paper, and at once run clear.
Infusion of Rue. Syn. Rue tea; Infusum rutæ, L. Carminative, antispasmodic, emmenagogue, and vermifuge. It is a popular and useful remedy in flatulent colic, infantile convulsions, epilepsy, hysteria, suppressed menstruation, &c.
Infusion of Rupture-wort. Syn. Infusum herniariæ. Prep. Rupture wood, 2 dr.; boiling water, 1 pint.
Infusion of Safflower. Syn. Infusum carthami. Prep. Safflower, 2 dr.; boiling water, 16 fl. oz.; infuse for an hour.—Dose. A wine-glassful, as a diaphoretic.
Infusion of Sage. Syn. Sage tea; Infusum salviæ, L. 1. From the leaves of common garden sage. Carminative and stomachic. In flatulence and dyspepsia, and diluted with water as a drink, to lessen the nightsweats in phthisis and fever, and to stop the secretion of milk after weaning.