Syrupus Actaeae Compositus (N. F.)—Compound Syrup of Actaea.

Botanical name: 

Related entry: Cimicifuga (U. S. P.)—Cimicifuga

SYNONYMS: Syrupus cimicifugae compositus, Compound syrup of cimicifuga (or Black cohosh).

Preparation.—"Fluid extract of cimicifuga (U. S. P.), forty cubic centimeters (40 Cc.) [1 fl℥, 169♏]; fluid extract of glycyrrhiza (U. S. P.), twenty cubic centimeters (20 Cc.) [325♏]; fluid extract of senega (U. S. P.), twenty cubic centimeters (20 Cc.) [325♏]; fluid extract of ipecac (U. S. P.), ten cubic centimeters (10 Cc.) [162♏]; wild cherry, in moderately fine powder, forty grammes (40 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 180 grs.]; purified talcum (F. 395), fifteen grammes (15 Gm.) [232 grs.]; sugar, six hundred and fifty grammes (650 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 6 ozs., 406 grs.]; water, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl℥, 391♏]. Mix the wild cherry with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fl℥, 401♏] of water, and allow it to macerate during 1 hour. Then add to it the fluid extracts and talcum, and stir or agitate the mixture frequently and thoroughly during about 15 minutes. Transfer to a wetted filter, and, when the liquid ceases to drop from the funnel, wash the contents of the filter with water to obtain five hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl℥, 435♏] of filtrate. In this dissolve the sugar by agitation, and add enough water, previously passed through the filter, to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl℥, 391♏]"—(Nat. Form.).

Through an oversight of the National Formulary committee, this preparation is made to bear the title Syrupus Actaea Compositus, which error was corrected in the errata of the first edition of that work, whereby the above title was made a synonym. In the second revision, however, the change seems not to have been made. Syrupus Cimicifugae Compositus is the name to be preferred.

Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—This preparation is evidently intended for pulmonic complaints. The dose should be from ½ to 1 fluid drachm.


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