Extractum Gelsemii Fluidum (U. S. P.)—Fluid Extract of Gelsemium.
Related entry: Gelsemium (U. S. P.)—Gelsemium
Preparation.—"Gelsemium, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl℥, 391♏︎]. Moisten the powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl℥, 69♏︎] of alcohol, and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough 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 alcohol, until the gelsemium is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl℥, 208♏︎] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough 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 Gelsemium). This fluid has a deep reddish-brown color and the bitter taste and characteristic odor of gelsemium. Eclectic physicians have no confidence in this or any other preparation made of dry gelsemium root. This, too, notwithstanding the assertions of some who claim that the alkaloid gelsemine dominates the drug, and is identical in both the fresh and the dry root. Dose, 1 to 5 minims.
