_Obs._ Bitter, stomachic, tonic, and vermifuge.--_Dose_, 10 gr. to 20 gr.,
2 or 3 times daily; in dyspepsia, loss of appetite, gout, &c. It is usual
to add a few drops of the oil of wormwood to the extract before taking it
from the pan.
4. (Alcoholic; EXTRACTUM ABSINTHII ALCOHOLICUM, L.--Guibourt.) From a
tincture prepared from the dried tops of wormwood boiled in proof spirit.
More active than the last.
=Extract of Yew.= _Syn._ EXTRACTUM TAXI, L. _Prep._ 1. (Loder.) From the
inspissated juice of the fresh leaves of the yew (_Taxus baccata_). Its
action on the circulation greatly resembles that of digitalis, but is more
manageable.--_Dose_, 1 to 7 gr.; in epilepsy, &c.
2. (Alcoholic,--Ph. Baden.) From the dried leaves, as ALCOHOLIC EXTRACT OF
ACONITE--Ph. Baden.
_Obs._ In addition to the preparations given above, there are many others
which are often called 'EXTRACTS,' These may be grouped under the
following heads:--
=Extracts, Concentra'ted.= _Syn._ RESINOIDS. Pharmaceutical preparations
of more or less value, largely employed by the American physicians who
style themselves 'ECLECTICS,' They are supposed to present in the most
concentrated form the medicinal virtues of the plants from which they are
derived. See RESINOIDS.
=Extracts, Fluid.= _Syn._ EXTRACTA FLUIDA, EXTRACTA LIQUIDA, L. This name
has been applied in modern pharmacy to various preparations differing
materially from each other in their degree of fluidity and concentration.
Some of these have been already noticed, and others will be found under
one or other of their synonyms. Much confusion would be avoided by
confining the name 'FLUID EXTRACT' to those preparations only which differ
from the ordinary officinal extracts in being in the liquid form; whilst
others of a like character, but of less consistence or concentration,
might be conveniently classed under the general denomination of 'LIQUORS'
(LIQUORES, L.). The various condensed preparations of vegetable
substances, now common in trade, professedly several times stronger than
the common DECOCTIONS, INFUSIONS, and TINCTURES, might be simply and
advantageously distinguished by the addition of 'CONCENTRATED' to their
names. Tinctures made with rectified spirit, and of (say) at least 8 times
the usual strength, might be appropriately termed 'ESSENCES,' See
DECOCTION, ESSENCE, EXTRACT, INFUSION, OLEO-RESIN, SYRUP, TINCTURE, &c.
=Extracts, Perfu'matory.= See EXTRAIT.
=Extracts, Pulver'ulent.= _Syn._ DRIED EXTRACTS, DESICCATED E.;
SACCHARATED E.; EXTRACTA PULVERATA, E. SICCA, E. CUM SACCHARO, L. _Prep._
1. Ordinary soft extract of the drug, 4 parts; white sugar (in powder), 1
part; mix, and dry by exposure in a warm situation; lastly, reduce the
mass to powder, and if it weighs less than 4 parts, triturate it with more
powdered sugar until its weight is equal to the original weight of the
extract used in its preparation. The strength of the extract thus
continues unchanged.
2. (Ph. Bor.) As the last, but using powdered sugar of milk, in lieu of
cane sugar.
3. (Gauger.) Alcoholic extract, 3 parts, rectified spirit, 1 part, are
triturated together in a porcelain mortar until thoroughly incorporated,
when white sugar (in powder), 15 oz., is gradually added, and the two
carefully and completely blended together; the mixture is dried as before,
and more sugar added until the whole weighs exactly 18 oz. Six grains
represent one grain of the unprepared extract.
_Obs._ The above are admirable preparations, intended chiefly to render
the perishable extracts of the narcotic plants (EXTRACTA NARCOTICA) less
liable to suffer by age. See EXTRACT OF ACONITE (Saccharated), &c.
=EXTRAC'TIVE.= _Syn._ EXTRACTIVE PRINCIPLE. Fourcroy entertained the
belief that all vegetable extracts contained a common basis of definite
composition, to which he gave the name of _extractive_. Chevreul and other
chemists have shown, however, that Fourcroy's _extractive_ is not a
chemical compound but a heterogeneous mixture, varying in composition with
the plant from which it is obtained. Extractive has a brown colour, or one
becoming so in the air; it speedily putrefies, and becomes oxidised, and
is rendered insoluble by long exposure to air, and by repeated solutions
and evaporations. In its unaltered state it is soluble in water and in
alcohol, is nearly insoluble in ether, and is precipitated from its
solutions by the acids and metallic oxides. With alumina it forms the
basis of several brown dyes.
=EXTRAIT.= [Fr.] Literally an extract. Among perfumers, extraits are
mostly spirituous solutions of the essential oils or odorous principles of
plants and other fragrant substance. The French commonly apply the term to
any concentrated spirit, either simple or compound. In the shops of the
Parisian perfumers upwards of 60 preparations of the kind are
distinguished by this name. The extracts of JASMINE, JONQUIL, MAY-LILY,
ORANGE BLOSSOMS, VIOLETS, and other like flowers of delicate perfume, are
obtained by agitating and digesting the 'huiles' and 'pomades' of the
flowers with the purest rectified spirit in the manner described under
SCENTED SPIRITS ('esprits'). This process is repeated with fresh oil or
pomade until the spirit is rendered sufficiently fragrant. The other
extracts (both simple and compound) are made by the common methods of
infusion and distillation. See ESSENCE, EXTRACT, SPIRIT, &c.
=EYE.= In _anatomy_ and _physiology_, the organ of vision. In order that
vision may be distinct, it is necessary that the pencil of rays diverging
from each point of the object and entering the pupil should converge to a
focus on the retina. Near-sightedness ('MYOPIA,' L.) is due to the too
great convexity of either the 'lens' or 'cornea,' causing the rays to
converge to a focus before reaching the retina. The spectacles worn by
myopic persons have concave glasses, which, by increasing the divergence
of the rays falling upon the eye, have the effect of carrying back each
focal point towards the retina. In the long sight of old people
('PRESBYOPIA,' L.) the foci of the refracted pencils are situated behind
the retina, the 'lens' or the 'cornea' being not sufficiently convex. This
defect is corrected by convex glasses, which increase the convergence of
the incident rays.
_Foreign Bodies in the Eye._--Particles of dust, small insects, hairs, and
such like minute bodies frequently get under the eyelid, and thus become a
source of considerable discomfort, and very frequently of great pain.
Hence the necessity of their prompt removal. In order to effect this the
inside of the lids should be so exposed as to reveal the intruding
substance. The lower lid may be easily turned down so as to show the inner
surface, but the upper lid cannot be so easily manipulated. The end,
however, may be attained by taking firm hold of the lid with the finger
and thumb, drawing it downward and forward, placing a quill or a small
pencil-case on the outer upper part, and turning the lid backwards over
it. When the annoying particle is seen it should be removed by gently
drawing over it, with a wiping motion, a piece of rag or linen
handkerchief, wrapped round the finger, or by means of a camel-hair brush,
if this latter be at hand.
If these means fail to remove it, and it should be imbedded too firmly in
the membrane, it may be picked off with a tooth-pick, the end of a pair of
tweezers, a fine ivory paper-knife, or with a stiff hair from a
clothes-brush bent at right angles. If lime-dust has blown into the eye it
is only the larger particles that can be removed in this manner; the finer
particles may be dissolved out by washing the eye with a lotion made of
one part of common vinegar and two parts of water. A drop or two of pure
sugar syrup will also frequently dissolve the lime. When a powerfully
destructive substance, such, for instance, as sulphuric acid or oil of
vitriol, is, as sometimes happens, thrown by some person into the eye, the
best course is to wash it out with a solution containing four grains of
washing soda in an ounce of water. This should be done as quickly as
possible, and pending the time the soda lotion is being got ready, the
eye, being kept open, should be diligently washed with cold water. Grains
of gunpowder should be carefully removed. Hot fluid, such as melted fat or
pitch, may be got rid of by putting into the eye a few drops of almond or
olive oil.
Upon removal of the foreign body the pain generally subsides; but it
sometimes happens that the membranes may be lacerated, in which case more
or less inflammation may ensue. Under these circumstances a medical
practitioner should be consulted. For _animals_ the same treatment may be
followed. See BLINDNESS, COLOUR BLINDNESS, VISION, &c.
=Eye Balsam=, Vegetable (Martin Reichel, Würzburg). Opium, 5 parts; oxide
of mercury, 5 parts; camphor, 2 parts; wax cerate, 52 parts. (Hager.)
=Eye Drops.= See WATER (Eye).
=Eye Essence= (Dr Romershausen). A tincture prepared from fennel seeds and
fresh young fennel. (Hager.)
=Eye Powder= (Laeyson, Paris), also known as Odorous Powder. For the
strengthening, restoration, and preservation of the sight. A powder
composed of--Burnt chalk, 100 parts; ammonia, 50 parts; charcoal, 6 parts;
oxide of iron, 2 parts; cinnamon bark, 2 parts. (P. L. Geiger.)
=Eye Pow'ders.= See COLLYRIA.
=Eye Salt.= Powdered alum. (G. Graefe.)
=Eye Salve.= See OINTMENT (Eye).
=Eye Snuff.= See SNUFF.
=Eye Water= (Biedermann, Annaberg). 2 grms. sulphate of zinc in 60 grms.
distilled water, with a little infusion of cloves.
=Eye Water= (Brun) is a solution of 4 parts of aloes in 32 parts of white
wine, with 32 parts of rose water, and 1-1/2 part of tincture of saffron.
=Eye Water= (Chantomelanus) "makes spectacles superfluous." A turbid
yellow-brownish liquid, consisting of a weak extract of lavender flowers
in diluted spirit, in which some oil of lavender has also been dissolved.
(Opwyrda.)
=Eye Water, Dr Graefe's= (L. Roth, Berlin). Sulphate of zinc, 1·5 grms.;
fennel water, 100 grms., slightly coloured with fennel seed tincture.
(Schädler.)
=Eye Water= (J. P. H. Hette). A solution of ethereal oils of lavender,
bergamot, rosemary, and tincture of opium in spirits of wine, 50 per cent.
(Wittstein.)
=Eye Water= (Bernhard Kraft, Calbe) for acute inflammation of the eyes and
for strengthening the sight. Seven grammes of an impure muddy
sediment-leaving spring water containing half a gramme of native sulphate
of zinc containing iron. (Schädler.)
=Eye Water= (Inspector Stroinski, Neisse). One part of sulphate of zinc
dissolved in 500 parts of common river water. (Schreiber.)