The American homoeopathic pharmacopoeia

Front matter

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Preface

be compared with authorities have been allowed to remain, notably of those drugs introduced into our Materia Medica by Dr. Mure, of Brazil, and a few have been taken from the British Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia.

The reviser desires to express here his obligation to his friend, Prof. T. F. Allen, for material assistance in the department of botany.

For the modes of preparing medicines for homoeopathic use as given within these pages, the publishers assume all responsibility; that portion of the book is the result of their many years’ experience, and the reviser has felt that in this part of the subject, anything more than a suggestion from him would be uncalled for.

A feature in the book which may call for criticism is the attempt to give credit under each article, to the first prover or introducer of the remedy; the writer has used as references the list of authorities placed at the beginning of each remedy in Allen’s Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica , and Kleinert’s Quellen- Nachweis der Physiologischen Arzneiprufungen. In many cases it was impossible to settle satisfactorily to the writer’s mind the question of priority, and in most of such instances no credit has been given; in others the provings, as we have them, are from poisoning .cases, and here no mention of names could be made; in still others information on the subject was not at hand. In no article, however, has credit been given or omitted without what appeared to be good reason for such action.

* The terminology used in this work is that of the Pharmacopoeia Germanica adopted by Hahnemann in his Materia Medica Pura ; occasional lapses from this standard appear, however, where such variations have received the sanction of long usage, but terms accepted in other pharmacopoeias are given as subtitles in the synonyms.

In conclusion, the reviser ventures to express a hope that the book may be accepted as a standard in its department by the homoeopathic pharmacist, physician and undergraduate.

PUBLISHERS’ ANNOUNCEMENT.

The present work was undertaken by the publishers to meet the decided demand for a homoeopathic pharmacopoeia, especially adapted to the wants of the homoeopathic profession and the homoeopathic pharmacists in America.

The various European pharmacopoeias have done excellent service in their time. The “British Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia, 1882,” published under the direction of the British Plomoeopathic Society, is the accepted authority in England, while Dr. Schwabe’s “Pharmacopoeia Homoeopathica Polyglottta” 1880, occupies a similar position with the majority of the profession in Germany.

Neither of these, however, is exactly adapted to meet the requirements of the practitioners in this country for various reasons. The former adopts the innovation of prescribing that the tinctures should contain in ten parts the soluble matter of one part of the dry plant. This rule if adopted, would necessitate a careful drying of all fresh plants in order to calculate their percentage of water. This, in our estimation, would needlessly complicate the process, it looks well enough in theory but is tedious and difficult of practical execution. In other respects this is a work of great merit and bears evidence of very careful preparation and of high scholarship. In Dr. Schwabe’s “Polyglotta” on the other hand the rules laid down by Hahnemann for the preparation of the remedies are closely followed, and remedies introduced after his time are brought under the same rules as far as practicable; however, no descriptions of plants are given, or of the chemical processes.

The American Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia has been planned

8 publishers’ announcement.

to include all medicinal substances used in homoeopathy, either fully or partially proved, as well as others in actual use or occasional demand, to identify them accurately and concisely after the highest authorities, to give reliable working formulas for the preparation of the chemicals, and finally, to convert them into remedial agents in accordance with the rules laid down by Hahnemann.

No trouble or expense has been spared to secure this object.

The revision of the work in its second edition was entrusted to Dr. J. T. O’Connor, of Amenia, New York, formerly Professor of Chemistry at the New York Homoeopathic College, who also saw the book through the press; and we take this opportunity of expressing our sincere thanks and acknowlment for the prompt and faithful manner in which he has performed this difficult task.

Part I. General

HOMEOPATHIC PHARMACEUTICS.

In the manufacture and preservation of Homoeopathic medicines, care must be taken to avoid everything that can in the least affect their purity. Such influences as light, smoke, strong odors, etc., must be guarded against. Strong-smelling substances used for homoeopathic purposes, which could contaminate the others, must, therefore, be kept separate. All homoeopathic remedies, tinctures as well as potencies, should be protected from sunlight.

UTENSILS.

Bottles and Glasses. — For neutral substances as well as for remedies, only new, well-cleansed bottles and glasses should be used. They should be of white (so-called), i. e., colorless, flint glass. For remedies sensitive to light, vials covered with black varnish should be used.

Glass-stoppered Bottles should only be used for substances which corrode cork — such as acids, iodine and bromine preparations, etc.

Note.— -Yellow or amber-colored bottles were introduced some years ago, it being claimed that they atlorded protection against the chemical rays of light. However, such protection is afforded to but few chemicals, and as it is claimed by several writers that non-medicinal substances exposed for some time to yellow light acquire medicinal properties, it follows that amber-colored bottles are inadmissible as receptacles of homceopythic remedies. Besides this, it practically prevents a proper examination of the contents of the bottles.

HOMOEOPATHIC PHARMACEUTICS.

Weights. — Unless otherwise specified, the United States apothecaries’ weight is understood.

Corks. — The corks used must be of the best quality, and as free from pores as possible.

Measuring Glasses. — Measuring glasses, properly graduated, are used for measuring the liquid vehicles used in preparing potencies or attenuations, but they should never be used for measuring any medicinal substance.

Mortars. — For pulverizing very hard substances, a highly-polished iron mortar and pestle of the same material are employed ; other metallic mortars must not be used. For softer substances porcelain mortars are suitable.

Triturating Mortars. — Triturating mortars and pestles must be made either of porcelain, the inside of the mortar and the face of the pestle being ground or unglazed, or of wedgewood-ware, or of agate. Mortars made of metal are not to be used for triturating. Special mortars must be used for each separate remedy, with the name of the remedy marked on each mortar.

Sieves. — Only hair or silk sieves can be used ; the former for the coarser powders in the preparation of tinctures, the latter for the finer, in making triturations. Sieves designed for sugar of milk must not be used for other purposes.

Spatulas and Spoons. — Spatulas and spoons must be made of horn, bone, or porcelain.

Funnels. — Only glass or porcelain funnels may be used; never metallic ones.

Chopping Board. — The chopping board must be made of sound, well-seasoned maple, free from knots.

Chopping Knife. — The chopping knife, used for cutting up plants, must be made of good steel, and always kept well-polished.

Presses. — Presses used for plants must be well made, and so constructed that they can readily be taken apart, and thoroughly cleansed.

THE CLEANSING OF UTENSILS.

In making homoeopathic preparations, the utmost cleanliness must be observed. Accordingly, utensils, even when used for the first time, must be thoroughly cleansed.

Glasses and bottles are to be washed several times with rain water, then rinsed with distilled water, and after draining, are to be dried at a high temperature.

Porcelain vessels must be scalded with boiling water, and dried at a high temperature.

The press is taken apart, and washed first with cold, then with hot water, and then dried thoroughly.

All utensils should be cleansed immediately after use.

Glasses and bottles which have been used for a particular tincture or potency, however well cleansed, must not be used for another preparation.

HOMOEOPATHIC PHARMACEUTICS.

NEUTRAL SUBSTANCES OR VEHICLES.

AQUA DESTILLATA.

Distilled Water. — Formula H2 O. Molecular weight 18.

Preparation of Distilled Water. — Rain water collected some time after the commencement of a storm, as the portion falling earlier contains particles of dust and various organic and inorganic matters, which had been suspended or dissolved in the air, is subjected to distillation in an apparatus expressly designed for that purpose. A copper still and block-tin condenser are generally used, but it is best to use a still that is gold or nickle-plated throughout, as Silica is dissolved out by steam from an ordinary glass retort, and porcelain stills are objectionable for the same reason. The distilled water must be filled at once into glass-stoppered bottles, that it may not become contaminated by dust or spores floating in the air. Water prepared and preserved in this manner will remain pure for years.

Properties. — Distilled water is a transparent, colorless, odorless, tasteless liquid, whose density at the temperature of 15° or 15. 5° C. (59° or 60° F.) is taken as unity for the determination of specific gravity . of liquid and solid bodies ; but the. weight of 1 CC. of water at its maximum density (given below j is called 1 gramme, and thus furnishes the starting point of the metric system of weights. Water is at its maximum density at the temperature 4° C. ; below that temperature it expands gradually till the freezing point 0° C. (32° F.) is reached, when it becomes solid, forming ice whose specific gravity is .916 — thus showing an expansion at the moment of solidification, of ^ of its bulk. Above 4° C. water expands slightly for every degree of heat added, till at 100° C. (212° F.) at the sea level, it is converted into vapor, at the same time being violently agitated or boiling.

Tests of Purity. — Distilled water should have the physical characteristics noted above ; it should leave no residue after evaporation, should be indifferent to test papers, and should give no precipitate when treated with barium chloride, silver nitrate, ammonium oxalate, or hydrogen sulphide.

The presence of carbonic oxide will be proven by a white precipitate when agitated with lime water.

ALCOHOL.

Spi’rit of Wine.— In commerce, there is now obtainable everywhere, pure alcohol, free from fusel oil, containing 90 per cent, of anhydrous alcohol. Hence, it is scarcely ever necessary for the pharmacist to rectify the raw spirit. In homoeopathic pharmacy especially, particular care should be exercised not to use alcohol which had been used in making medicinal preparations, and which had been recovered by distillation. Should it be necessary to. rectify the raw spirit containing fusel oil, the following method is offered : Dilute raw spirit with distilled water until its specific gravity is 0.86 or 0.87. Macerate with fresh burned charcoal, broken in small pieces, for one or two days with frequent stirring, and finally pour the liquid into a retort and distil by the heat of a water bath.

HOMOEOPATHIC PII ARM ACEU TICS.

Alcohol entirely free from fusel oil, is to be subjected to redistillation in an apparatus especially adapted for the purpose. The product should be reduced to 87 per cent. (Tralles), or a specific gravity of 0.83, by adding distilled water; (95 per cent, alcohol [Tralles] may be reduced to 87 per cent. [Tralles] by adding to seven parts of the former one part of distilled water). This is the standard officinal strength of so-called homoeopathic alcohol.

Note. — When a stronger alcohol is employed to prepare a tincture, the strength (according to Tralles) is expressed.

Dilute Alcohol. — Consists of seven parts alcohol, specific gravity 0.83, and three parts distilled water, the mixture having specific gravity 0.89.

Properties. — Absolute alcohol is a colorless, transparent, very mobile, volatile liquid, whose specific gravity at 15.5° C. (60° F.) is 0.7938. It boils at 78.4° C. (173° F.), but the temperature of the boiling point is higher, if diluted with water, according to the degree of dilution.

It mixes in all proportions with distilled water and remains clear. Its odor and taste are purely alcoholic, warm, fragrant and agreeable. It is very inflammable, burning with a faint, bluish flame and without smoke. Its solvent power extends over a wide range.

Tests. — Diluted with distilled water in equal proportions, alcohol should yield no foreign odor, nor, when a few drops are rubbed between the hands, should any foreign odor be perceptible. Treated with a few drops of solution of silver nitrate and exposed to bright light, it remains unchanged if pure.

Add slowly to the alcohol its own weight of pure concentrated sulphuric acid. If the alcohol is pure, it remains colorless ; if fusil oil is present, a reddish color will be developed, from the formation of amylsulphuric acid.

SACCHARUM LACTIS.

’ Formula, C12 H22 Oxl, H2 O.

Common Name, Sugar of Milk.

Synonym, Lactose.

Sugar of Milk. — This sugar is one of the constituents of milk. In the vegetable kingdom it is very rarely found.

Pure lactose is in odorless, white, hard, four-sided rhombic prisms. Its taste is faintly sweet, and between the teeth it gives a sandy or “gritty” feeling. It is soluble in two and one-half parts of boiling water, but requires six parts of water at ordinary temperatures. It is insoluble in alcohol, or even a 60 per cent, alcohol, in ether and chloroform.

Its watery solution does not form a syrup.

By heating to 150° C. (302° F.) it gives up its water of crystallization. By long boiling in a weak watery solution it becomes changed into galactose. The same transformation is effected more rapidly by

HOMCEOPATIIIC PHARMACEUTICS.

digestion with dilute mineral acids or with strong solutions of organic acids. Galactose, under the influence of beer yeast undergoes vinous fermentation.

Preparation. — The general outlines of the method are as follows: Fresh milk is allowed to stand till its cream rises — then skimmed, and treated with rennet to coagulate the casein. The latter is removed and the residue is a solution of milk sugar and the salts of milk, but is not wholly free from casein and butter-fat. Upon evaporation of this liquid, called whey, the milk sugar is obtained in crystals as above described. It is a constant by-product in the manufacture of cheese. The crystals so obtained are redissolved in water, treated with animal charcoal and recrystallized after filtration.

It is extremely difficult to free milk sugar from slight amounts of foreign substances by repeated crystallization from watery solution, for the water does not surrender all of the sugar.

To overcome the difficulty, Stapf devised the following method : Dissolve a pound of the finest milk sugar in four pounds of boiling distilled water; filter the solution while yet warm, through the finest Swedish filter paper, and thoroughly mix the filtrate in a glass or porcelain dish, with four pounds of pure absolute alcohol. The vessel is then to be covered tightly and set aside in a cool place so that the sugar may crystallize out.

At the end of three or four days there will be found on the bottom and sides of the vessel a crust about one-sixth of an inch in thickness, crystalline and glistening, whose weight will be found to very nearly equal that of the milk sugar dissolved in the beginning of the process. The crystalline mass is then to be collected, washed with distilled water, to which has been added some alcohol, dried between folds of bibulous paper and preserved for use.

Character and Tests. — Milk sugar must be entirely free from fat or the other constituents of milk, which freedom will be shown by its perfect whiteness ; it should not be hygroscopic, nor should it have any rancid, musty, sour, or other foreign smell or taste.

Milk sugar may be adulterated with cane sugar ; in this case the increased sweetness as well as the more ready solubility in water will serve to detect the falsification. If alum be present, a white precipitate will be thrown down on adding to the solution of milk sugar an alkaline hydrate not in excess.

If copper, from copper vessels in the preparation of the sugar, be present, a reddish-brown precipitate will occur on the addition of potassium ferro-cyanide solution. Chloride of sodium, or phosphates, will be detected by silver nitrate solution, nitric acid dissolving the phosphate of silver formed but not the chloride. Sulphuric acid will be detected by barium nitrate or chloride.

If a solution of milk sugar redden blue litmus paper, the fact is due to free acid, and shows, in all probability, that the sugar was prepared from milk that had become sour.

HOMOEOPATHIC PHARMACEUTICS.

GLOBULES OR PELLETS.

Globules are prepared from pure cane sugar. They must be white, of uniform size tor each number as given below, perfectly globular, not too hard, and entirely soluble in distilled water. When freshly made they are somewhat soft, but become harder by age. Addition of flour, glucose, glycerine, or starch, to make them soft, or to keep them so, is an adulteration. They are assorted according to size and designated by numbers from 8 to 80.

Measure of Globules. — The number given to any size of globules is determined by laying ten of equal size in a line and in close contact with each other; the space so occupied, given in millimetres, is the number by which that particular size is designated.

THE PROCURING OF MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES.

Fresh Plants. — As to the time when the fresh plant is to be gathered, the directions to be followed are, with few exceptions, given under the remedy. If such directions are wanting, it is to be assumed that the plants have been collected by the prover at the season in which their medicinal virtue is greatest, e. g., narcotic plants while in bloom, others shortly before, or when coming into bloom.

Only such plants should be collected as are healthy, strongly developed, faultless, and free from dust and caterpillar’s nests, and when growing wild in a locality known to be most favorable to their development. Cultivated flowers are employed only in cases where the prover has expressly prescribed their use. Plants should be gathered when the weather has previously been sunny and dry, and after the morningdew has disappeared from them. The collected specimens must not be packed too closely in carrying, and should be quickly subjected to manipulation, that they may yield their full strength unchanged.

Fresh Portions of Plants. — The same principles apply to the collection of fresh portions of plants.

Fruits and Seeds ought to be collected in their fully ripe condition (unless the unripe is prescribed).

Woods are collected before the beginning of spring, ere the buds are developed.

Herbs should be cut above the root-leaves.

Barks are collected from resinous trees and shrubs at the time of, or before the development of the leaves: from the non-resinous, in autumn.

Roots are dug, unless specially directed otherwise, as follows : Of annual plants, before the ripening of the seed; of biennials, in the spring of the second year ; of perennials, in autumn.

Twigs are to be used only when of the present year’s growth.

Drugs, Metals, Minerals, Chemicals, Etc. — The genuineness

IIOMCEOPATHIC PHARMACEUTICS.

and purity of drugs, metals, minerals, chemicals, etc., must he tested according to the stated rules, before being employed for any homoeopathic purposes.

PRELIMINARY MANIPULATIONS.

Fresh Plants and Parts of Plants. — The fresh plant, or part of it, is re-examined as to its undoubted identity, then carefully freed from any impurities that might have accidentally escaped notice in gathering it. Only those parts are taken for use which are specified under the respective remedy. The operation must be carried on as quickly and uninterruptedly as possible in the following manner: The plant should be cut up with a well polished steel knife, free from rust, on a well cleansed chopping board ; then divided as finely as possible with an equally well cleansed chopping knife. The finely divided mass is then to be treated in the manner more minutely described under Class I or II or III, according to which the tincture is to be prepared. Fresh fruits and seeds, if they can be cut up, are treated as above ; if not, they are simply crushed in a mortar.

Dried Plants and their Parts. — For the preparation of tinctures, they are pulverized coarsely ; for the preparation of triturations, as finely as possible.

Metals, Minerals and Chemical Preparations. — The rule for this class is to reduce the crude substance to a state so finely divided, that, if it is to be triturated, such can be done uniformly. This we accomplish with a part of these substances by pounding, but with most metals by precipitation.

Note. — Hahnemann employed metallic foil or filings, or comminuted the metals on a whet-stone. Later microscopic examinations have shown, however, that this method of subdividing is very imperfect, and renders the purity of the metal very doubtful, particles of the iron or whet-stone becoming mingled with it. The uniform distribution of the crude substance, on the other hand, has been shown to have been accomplished only in triturations prepared from precipitates. For this reason we employ precipitates, since we consider this departure from Hahnemann’s rules to be in no wise subversive of Homoeopathy. Moreover, the triturations prepared from precipitates have been used for re-provings, and it is only by the use of precipitates that we can obtain preparations of constant uniformity.

PREPARATION OF POTENCIES OR ATTENUATIONS.

Two scales are employed in potentizing, viz., the centesimal and the decimal.

The Centesimal Scale. — This scale was introduced by Hahnemann, and is still retained in making the higher potencies, while the lower potencies are now more generally made on the decimal scale. The centesimal scale is based on the principle that the first potency must contain the part of the drug power, and each following potency the part of the one preceding it. However, as tinctures and solutions are prepared by different rules, the drug power varies, and hence the quantity of the mother-tincture or solution and of the neutral

* vehicle must be so proportioned that the first potency represents the part of the drug power. In preparing the second, and following potencies, to one minim or part by weight of the preceding potency, ninety-nine minims or parts by weight of the neutral vehicle are added. The respective “classes” which prescribe the relative proportions for the different potencies give the necessary information.

The Decimal Scale. — During Hahnemann’s lifetime another method, the decimal scale, introduced by Dr. Constantine Hering, found many adherents among homoeopathic physicians. In preparing remedies according to this scale, it is the rule that the first potency should contain the TV of the drug power, while the following potencies are prepared with one minim or part, by weight, of the preceding potency to nine minims or parts, by weight, of the neutral vehicle. (Compare the classes.)

ATTENUATIONS.

Potentiation of Liquid Substances. — Potentiation must be carried on in an apartment free from all odors, dust and direct sunlight. The vials used for this purpose must be round, and their capacity should be such that the quantity of preparation to be succussed therein shall only two-thirds fill them. The name of the remedy with the number of the potency is marked both on the cork and on the vial, using the simple numeral for the potencies on the centesimal scale, and affixing an x to the numeral for potencies on the decimal scale.

Potentiation on the Centesimal Scale. — Into the duly marked vial intended for the first potency, the proper proportion of mother-tincture or solution is poured and the vehicle added — as mentioned under the class according to which the tincture has been prepared (see pp. 11-18), — then the vial is carefully corked and shaken by ten powerful downward strokes of the arm.

The second potency is made by adding to one minim of the first potency ninety-nine minims of the vehicle, the vial being shaken again as directed above. All subsequent potencies are made in like manner, i. e., by adding to one part of the preceding potency ninety-nine minims of the vehicle, and giving the mixture ten succussive strokes.

In this manner potencies may be carried up to the one thousandth or higher ; attenuations above the thirtieth are termed High Potencies.

Potentiation on the Decimal Scale. — Into the duly marked vial intended for the first decimal potency the proper proportion of mother-tincture or solution is poured and the vehicle added — as mentioned under the class according to which the tincture or solution has been prepared ^see page 19-25) — the vial is then well corked, and the contents shaken with ten vigorous downward strokes of the arm. All following potencies are made in the same manner, except that for each new potency, one minim or part of the preceding potency and nine minims or parts of the vehicle are measured into the vial, and then shaken as directed above.

HOMOEOPATHIC PHARMACEUTICS.

j^ote. — "We are explicit in directing the proper proportion of the substance being first put into the vial, and the vehicle afterwards, because this is a rule which all careful pharmacists should follow, to prevent the possibility of mistakes.

TRITURATIONS.

Potentiation of Dry Substances. — Dry substances, i. e., those whose medicinal power, according to homoeopathic principles, must first be developed by trituration with sugar of milk, ought to be manipulated in a warm and dry atmosphere. Before beginning the work we must satisfy ourselves that the apparatus to be used is perfectly clean. Mortars should be washed first with cold water, then with hot water, and carefully wiped dry, and lastly, a small quantity of alcohol is to be burned in the mortar. This must be done for every subsequent trituration.

Triturations on the Centesimal Scale. — Hahnemann so lucidly gives the technical directions to be observed in triturating, in his Chronic Diseases, Vol. l,p. 183, that we give here a careful translation: “First add one grain of the substance to about one-third of ninety-nine grains of sugar of milk in a porcelain mortar, unglazed or ground to an unpolished surface by rubbing with wet sand ; mix the medicine and the sugar of milk together for a moment with a porcelain spatula, then after triturating the mixture vigorously for six minutes, scrape the trituration together for four minutes from the bottom of the mortar and from the face of the (also unglazed) porcelain pestle, in order that the trituration may be uniformly mixed, and again triturate the scraped-up mass (without further addition of sugar of milk) a second time for six minutes with the same force. To this powder, again scraped up for four minutes, in which the first third of ninety-nine grains has been used, we add now the second third, mixing both together with a spatula for a moment, and again triturating for six minutes with the same force, and then again scraping up the trituration for four minutes, triturate vigorously six minutes a second time, and having scraped this mass together for four minutes, incorporate the third portion of sugar of milk by stirring with the spatula so that the whole mixture after six minutes vigorous trituration and four minutes scraping together may for the last time be triturated six minutes and then scraped together carefully.” This is the first (1) trituration. To prepare the second (2) trituration, one grain of the first trituration is added to the one-third part of ninety-nine grains of sugar of milk mixed in a mortar with the spatula, and so treated that each third is twice well triturated for six minutes, and scraped together for four minutes, and then put into a well-stoppered bottle. In the same way one grain of. the second (2) trituration is treated in preparing the third (3). The trituration must be done energetically, but not so much so that the sugar of milk shall cleave so strongly to the bottom of the mortar that it cannot in four minutes be scraped together. To make any higher trituration, one grain of the preceding trituration to that desired is triturated with ninety-nine grains of sugar of milk as directed above. Conversion of the Third Centesimal (3) Trituration into 2

HOMOEOPATHIC PHARMACEUTICS.

Liquid Potencies. — The substances triturated according to the centesimal scale to the third (3), are brought by this continuous process to such a degree of attenuation that they dissolve in or combine with a liquid vehicle, such as alcohol or water, and can thus be carried to a still higher degree of subdivision. This method of conversion, Hahnemann describes as follows :

“ In order to convert the potent trituration into the liquid state, and still further develop its power, we avail ourselves of the experience, hitherto unknown to chemistry, that all medicinal substances triturated to the third (3), are soluble in water and alcohol. Fifty minims of distilled water are added with the measuring glass to one grain of the third (3) trituration, and this by agitation is readily dissolved; then fifty minims of alcohol are added, and the stoppered vial, only two-thirds filled with the mixture, is shaken ten times ; this is the fourth (4) potency. Of this, one minim is added to ninety-nine minims of alcohol, and the well corked vial shaken ten times ; this is the fifth (5 ) potency. The following potencies are each prepared with one minim of the preceding potency to ninety-nine minims of alcohol, and each shaken ten times.”

Triturations on the Decimal Scale. — For the triturations to be prepared according to the decimal scale, we follow the same method in triturating as is given under the centesimal scale, except that first ten parts by weight of the crude substance are triturated with thirty grains of sugar of milk for twice six minutes, and each time scraped together for four minutes. We then add thirty grains more of sugar of milk, triturate again twice six minutes and each time scrape together forfour minutes, finally adding thirty grains more of sugar of milk, and triturating the mixture in the same manner. This is the first decimal (lx) trituration. Ten parts by weight of this preparation, triturated with three times thirty parts by weight of sugar of milk in precisely the same manner, gives the second decimal (2x) trituration. Of this, ten parts by weight with three times thirty parts by weight of sugar of milk gives the third decimal (3x), and in this way, the trituration each time of ten parts by weight of the preceding trituration, with ninety parts by weight of sugar of milk is continued for any higher trituration desired on the decimal scale.