Lloyd - Elixir & Flavoring Extracts Formulae - Soil and Health Library

3. ELIXIR ALOES.
(COMPOUND TINCTURE OF ALOES.)
Aloes,...............................3 troy ounces
Saffron.............................3 troy ounces
Tincture myrrh,.................. 2 pints.
Reduce the drugs to a coarse powder and macerate in the
alcohol for fourteen days, stirring the mixture thoroughly each day;
then filter.
(“The New Dispensatory,” London, 1770.)
4. ELIXIR OF VALERIANATE OF AMMONIUM.
Valerianate of ammonium........ 256 grains.
Simple elixir, ammonia water, carmine solution,
of each a sufficient quantity.
Dissolve the valerianate of ammonium in twelve fluid
ounces of simple elixir, and bring this to the measure of sixteen
fluidounces by the addition of a sufficient amount of simple elixir.
Then cautiously add ammonia water until in slight excess, and color
with solution of carmine until decidedly red. Each fluidrachm
(teaspoonful) of the finished elixir represents two grains of valerianate
of ammonium, the same as that adopted by the American
Pharmaceutical Association, 1873.
Valerianate of ammonium, especially if the valerianic acid is
in excess, has, to most persons, a very offensive odor. This the addition
of the ammonia water tends to subdue, but wherever valerianate of
ammonium is free, or in aqueous solution, the odor will remain. If
dissolved in officinal alcohol, however, it is scarcely apparent, but such
a solution will not conform to our modern “elixir.” The addition of
water to the alcoholic solution revives the odor.
The history of this elixir is of interest, since it was among the
first of the popular elixirs introduced, and has retained its prestige to
the present day. In an essay by Mr. Trovillo H. K. Enos, read before the
Maryland College of Pharmacy, 1861, the statement is made that “a
preparation known as Pierlot’s solution of valerianate of ammonium
has long been used among physicians in Philadelphia; but the
disagreeable taste and odor of the solution having been found