The apparatus (Fig. 27) is provided with two boxes for the reception of bottles filled with the substances to be extracted and alcohol. In the accompanying illustration one box is charged with two glass bottles and the other with a copper flask. However, Beyer frères also construct apparatuses which can, at one time, be charged with 6, 8, or 10 glass bottles, so that 6, 8, or 10 different tinctures can be prepared at one operation.
Fig. 28.
The apparatus (Fig. 28) consists of a round table provided with cavities covered with leather, in which rest bottles of a special shape. The bottles fit exactly in the cavities. The stoppers, with which the bottles are closed, rest against a screw of large diameter placed in the centre of the apparatus. Against this screw the bottles are firmly pressed by means of clamps and screws. The bottles being filled with the substances to be extracted, the table is set in motion, moving alternately from left to right and from right to left.
It is advisable to have always a sufficient supply of tinctures on hand, since their aroma improves by age.
The receipts given in the following pages have been practically tested and can be recommended as perfectly reliable.
Musk tincture.—Tonkin musk 11 drachms, rose water 8 ozs., best quality of alcohol 2 quarts.
Carefully empty the musk sac into a glass flask, add the rose water and let the flask stand for about 10 days, shaking frequently. Then add the alcohol and let the whole stand for several weeks, shaking frequently. Cut up the empty musk sacs into as small pieces as possible, and, in another bottle, treat them in the same manner as their contents; distilled water, may, however, be used instead of rose water. The object of the water is to soften the musk, which swells up, so that the alcohol can better penetrate into the cellular tissue and absorb the aroma.
The extract from the empty musk sacs is used for cheaper products, or mixed with the extract from the contents of the sacs, according to whether a more or less fine quality of tincture is to be obtained. A still higher yield might, perhaps, be obtained by the use of a machine for comminuting the musk, which grinds the sac to atoms, whereby the cellular tissue is still more completely disintegrated than by cutting up.
Civet tincture.—Civet 5½ drachms, best quality of alcohol 3 pints.