Extractum Iridis Fluidum (U. S. P.)—Fluid Extract of Iris.
Related entry: Iris (U. S. P.)—Iris - Extract of Iris.
SYNONYM: Fluid extract of blue flag.
Preparation.—"Iris, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lb. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl℥, 391♏︎]. Moisten the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl℥, 252♏︎] 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 iris is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl℥, 208♏︎] of the percolate. Distill off the alcohol from the remainder by means of a water-bath, 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.—A dark red-brown fluid. When mixed with water a copious precipitate results; even a few drops impart an opalescence to much water. This fluid extract is subject to disintegration in a similar way to that of gossypium, although the change is not as frequent. The result, when alteration occurs, is a copious brown magma, that sometimes is abundant enough to render the liquid thick like mush. This fluid extract holds the virtues of blue flag in a concentrated state, and may be used in syphilis, dropsy, scrofula, and all diseases in which the crude article is indicated. The dose is from a fraction of a drop to 20 drops.
