Extractum Stramonii Seminis (U. S. P.)—Extract of Stramonium Seed.
Related entry: Stramonium.—Stramonium - Extractum Stramonii Seminis Fluidum (U. S. P.)—Fluid Extract of Stramonium Seed.
SYNONYMS: Extractum stramonii (Pharm. 1880), Extract of stramonium.
Preparation.—"Stramonium seed, in No. 60 powder, one thousand gramme, (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl℥, 69♏︎] of diluted alcohol, and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted alcohol 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 three thousand cubic centimeters (3000 Cc.) [101 fl℥, 212♏︎] of tincture are obtained, or the stramonium seed is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl℥, 208♏︎] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl℥, 183 ♏︎]; mix this with the reserved portion, and, by means of a waterbath, evaporate, at or below the before-mentioned temperature, to a pilular consistence"—(U. S. P.).
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—This preparation is now prepared from the seed instead of the leaves, as in the U. S. P., 1870. Below we give formula for an extract from the leaves, which we have designated Extractum Stramonii Foliorum. Extract of stramonium seed is preferable either to an alcoholic or an aqueous extract of the leaves, or their inspissated juice. It is, in large doses, a narcotic poison; in medicinal doses it is anodyne and antispasmodic, and may be administered with benefit in painful and periodic diseases, nervous excitability or irritability, gastritis, enteritis, peritonitis, dysmenorrhoea, rigidity of the os uteri, etc. It may also be applied externally in rheumatic and neuralgic pains, and to reduce local inflammations. The dose is from 1/8 to 1/4 grain, 3 times a day.
Related Preparation.—EXTRACTUM STRAMONII FOLIORUM, Extract of stramonium leaves. Exhaust recently dried stramonium leaves, in coarse powder, in a percolator with diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity. (If the diluted alcohol be prepared with a mixture of acetic acid (2 parts), and water (1 part), instead of water alone, it will form a more powerful extract). From the tincture thus made, separate the alcohol, and then carefully evaporate the residue until it is of the required consistence. Be careful not to spoil the extract by too high a temperature while evaporating. When made in large quantity, it should be in vacuo, so that too elevated a temperature may be avoided, and also that the alcohol may be saved (see preparation of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758).
