Extractum Conii Fluidum (U. S. P.)—Fluid Extract of Conium.
Related entry: Conium (U. S. P.)—Conium - Extractum Conii (U. S. P.)—Extract of Conium.
SYNONYMS: Fluid extract of conium seeds, Fluid extract of conium fruit, Extractum conii fructus fluidum (U. S. P., 1870).
Preparation.—"Conium, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; acetic acid, twenty cubic centimeters (20 Cc.) [325♏︎]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl℥, 391♏︎]. Mix the acetic acid with nine hundred and eighty cubic centimeters (980 Cc.) [33 fl℥, 166♏︎] of diluted alcohol, and, having moistened the powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl℥, 69♏︎] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding diluted alcohol, until the conium is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl℥, 208♏︎] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, in a porcelain capsule, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl℥, 391♏︎]"—(U. S. P.).
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—(See Conium). This process is based upon that of Prof. W. Procter, Jr. (Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1859, pp. 271-2; see also Amer. Disp., 15th ed., p. 993). Prof. Procter remarks that in each of the drugs (ergot, conium, lobelia) there exists an alkaloid united with an organic acid, as a salt, which is so unstable in its nature, as to be with each drug partially decomposed by the ebullition of its solution; this tendency is almost completely controlled by acetic acid, at a temperature below 65.5° C. (150° F.), and a quite unexceptionable fluid extract is thus obtained. Fluid extract of conium has a brownish-green color, and the characteristic odor of conium, which is intensified by the addition of caustic potash. It contains the active properties of poison hemlock in a concentrated form, and may be given in doses of from 3 to 10 or 12 minims, according to the effects produced.
