Extractum Ipecacuanhae Fluidum (U. S. P.)—Fluid Extract of Ipecac.

Botanical name: 

Related entry: Ipecacuanha (U. S. P.)—Ipecac

Preparation.—"Ipecac, in No. 80 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl℥, 391♏︎]. Mix seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl℥, 173♏︎] of alcohol with two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (2,50 Cc.) [8 fl℥, 218♏︎] of water, and, having moistened the powder with three hundred and fifty cubic. centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fl℥, 401♏︎] 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 menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as before, until the ipecac 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 a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl℥, 391♏︎]"—(U. S. P.).

Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—(See Ipecacuanha). This is a thin and transparent, deep reddish-brown fluid, with the bitterish, subacrid, nauseous flavor and taste of ipecac. In the preceding revisions of the U. S. P., this fluid extract was made by a process so different as to necessitate special mention. Then the oleoresins were precipitated by water from the evaporated percolate, which was afterward alcoholated enough to preserve it. Acetic acid was also employed. By this method a fluid extract was obtained, capable of mixing with water or syrup in all proportions, the product being clear. The present U. S. P. process produces a fluid that neither has the odor of acetic acid, nor is it capable of making a clear syrup by direct admixture with simple syrup (see formula for making syrup of ipecac). Dose, as expectorant, 1 to 5 minims; as an emetic, 15 to 30 minims.


King's American Dispensatory, 1898, was written by Harvey Wickes Felter, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D.