Extractum Phytolaccae Radicis Fluidum (U. S. P.)—Fluid Extract of Phytolacca Root.
Related entry: Phytolacca.—Phytolacca - Extract of Poke.
SYNONYM: Fluid extract of poke-root.
Preparation.—"Phytolacca root, in No. 60 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 six hundred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fl℥, 138♏︎] of alcohol with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl℥, 69♏︎] of water, and, having moistened the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl℥, 252♏︎] 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 phytolacca root is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fl℥, 25♏︎] 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.).
Medical Uses and Dosage.—As poke-root is of little value unless fresh, it is very probable that this preparation will be of little value in therapy. Dose, from 5 to 10 minims, 3 or 4 times a day.
