Extractum Cimicifugae. U. S. Extract of Cimicifuga.
Ext. Cimicif. [Powdered Extract of Cimicifuga]
Related entries: Cimicifuga
"One gramme of the Extract represents four grammes of cimicifuga." U. S.
Extract of Black Cohosh; Extrait d'Actee a grappes, Fr.; Cimicifuga-extrakt, G.
"Cimicifuga, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes [or 35 ounces av., 120 grains]; Alcohol, Starch, dried at 100° C. (212° F.), each, a sufficient quantity, to make two hundred and fifty grammes [or 8 ounces av., 358 grains]. Moisten the drug with sufficient alcohol, pack it in a cylindrical percolator, and 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 forty-eight hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed slowly, adding alcohol as required until the drug is exhausted. Recover the alcohol from the percolate by distillation and evaporate the residue to dryness, with frequent stirring, at a temperature not exceeding 70° C. (158° F.). Weigh the residue and add sufficient of the dried starch to make the product weigh two hundred and fifty grammes [or 8 ounces av., 358 grains]. Reduce the mixture to a fine powder, mix thoroughly, pass the Extract through a fine sieve, transfer it to small, wide-mouthed bottles and stopper them tightly." U. S.
In the U. S. P. VIII this extract was made from the fluidextract, but the U. S. P. IX gives a process. This extract was introduced for the reason that although the fluidextract and tincture represent the virtues of cimicifuga, the alcohol present in both may be therapeutically contra-indicated, and the exceedingly disagreeable taste of the drug is entirely masked if the extract be prescribed in the form of a pill, with proper additions, such as extract of licorice, or if the pill be coated or enclosed in a capsule. It is used in the treatment of chorea.
Dose, of the extract, from three to ten grains (0.2-0.65 Gm.).
