United States Dispensatory 1926
Compiled and edited by Ivor Hughes
DECOCTIONS:
Tisanes par decoction, Decoctions, Fr.; Abkochungen, O.; Decotti, It,;
Cocimiento, Sp.
Decoctions are solutions of vegetable principles, obtained by boiling the substances containing these principles in water. Vegetable tissues generally yield their water-soluble constituents more readily, and in larger proportion, to water maintained at the point of ebullition, than to the same liquid at a lower temperature. Hence decoction is occasionally preferred to infusion as a mode of extracting the virtues of plants, when the call for the remedy is urgent, and the principles which are to be extracted are not injured by heat. The process should be conducted in a covered vessel. The boiling, moreover, should not, as a rule, be long continued for the same reason. The substance submitted to decoction should if dry be either powdered or well bruised, if fresh should be sliced, so that it may present an extensive surface to the action of the solvent; and previous maceration for some time in water is occasionally useful. Should the physician not happen to prescribe this preliminary preparation, the pharmacist should not omit it.
All vegetable substances are not proper objects for decoction. In many the active principle is volatile at a boiling heat, in others it undergoes some change unfavorable to its activity, and in still others inert matter is too freely extracted, and in the large class of drugs containing resinous principles, water is of very-little use in extracting the virtues of the drug. In some of these instances, infusion is preferable to decoction. Besides, by the latter process more matter is often dissolved than the water can retain, so that upon cooling a precipitation takes place and the liquid is rendered turbid, and this constitutes the greatest objection to this class of preparations. When the active principle is thus dissolved is excess, the decoction should always be strained while hot, so that the matter which separates on cooling may be mixed again with the fluid by agitation at the time of administering the remedy. In compound decoctions several of which were vary popular at one time, the ingredients were advantageously added at different periods of the process, according to the length of boiling requisite for extracting their virtues; and, if one of them owed its activity to a volatile principle, the plan followed, at the close of the process, was to pour upon it the boiling decoction of the other ingredients, and allow the liquor to cool in a covered vessel.
As a rule, glass or earthenware vessels should be preferred, as those made of metal are sometimes corroded by the ingredients of the decoction, which thus become contaminated. Vessels o� block tin are preferable to those made of copper, brass, or zinc; but iron pots should not be used where astringent vegetable substances are concerned.
Decoctions, on account of the presence of fermentable constituents and the absence of any preservative solvent such as alcohol are apt to spoil in a short time. Hence they should be prepared only when wanted for use, and should not be kept, when the weather is warm, for a longer period than forty-eight hours.
The tendency of modern medicine and pharmacy has been decidedly against the employment of decoctions; their nauseous taste, bulky dose, repulsive appearance, and non-permanent character have been powerful reasons for causing their retirement, while the use of tinctures and fluidextracts has largely increased.
There is, at present, no decoction specifically recognized by the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, but the following general formula is given:
Decoctions must be freshly made, and when their strength is not otherwise directed, they are to be prepared by the following general formula: The Drug, coarsely comminuted, 50 Gin.; Water, a sufficient quantity to make 1000 cc. Place the drug in a suitable vessel provided with a cover, pour upon it 1000 ce. of cold water, cover it well, and boil for fifteen minutes. Then allow it to cool to about 40� C., express, strain the expressed liquid, and pass enough cold water through the strainer to make the product measure 1000 cc.
Caution.� The strength of decoctions of energetic or powerful drugs should be specially directed by the physician." U. S.
DECOCTUM ACACIAE CORTICIS. Br.
DECOCTION OF ACACIA BARK
Acacia Bark, bruised, 60 grammes; Distilled Water sufficient to produce 1000
millilitres. Boil the Acacia Bark with twelve hundred millilitres of
Distilled Water, in a suitable vessel, for ten minutes; strain; if necessary
pour sufficient Distilled Water over the contents of the strainer to produce
the required volume." Br. This decoction
was transferred from the British Addendum (1900) to the British Pharm.
(1914). It is used in India as an astringent gargle, lotion, or
injection.
Dose is
from four fluidrachms to two fluidounces (15-60 cc.).
DECOCTUM AGROPYRI. Br.
DECOCTION OF COUCH GRASS [Decoction of Triticum]
Couch Grass, cut small, 50 grammes; Distilled Water sufficient to produce
1000 millilitres. Boil the Couch Grass with twelve hundred millilitres of
Distilled Water, in a suitable vessel, for ten minutes; strain; if necessary
pour sufficient Distilled Water over the contents
of the strainer to produce the required volume." Br. This
decoction was transferred from the British Addendum (1900) to the British
Pharm. (1914). It is used in cystitis and urinary diseases.
Dose, four
fluidrachms to two fluidounces (15-60 cc.).
DECOCTUM QOSSYPII RADICIS CORTICIS. Br.
DECOCTION OF COTTON ROOT BARK
Cotton Boot Bark, braised, 200 grammes; Distilled Water sufficient to
produce 1000 millilitres. Boil the Cotton Root Bark with two thousand
millilitres of the Distilled Water, in a suitable vessel, until the volume
is reduced to one thousand millilitres; strain; if necessary pour sufficient
Distilled Water over the contents of the strainer to produce the required
volume." Br. This decoction was
transferred from the British Addendum (1900) to the British Pharm. (1914).
It is used as an emmenagogue and in uterine hemorrhage.
Dose, from
four fluidrachms to two fluidounces (15-60 cc.).
DECOCTUM ALOES COMPOSITUM. Br.
COMPOUND DECOCTION OF ALOES
Tisane (Decocte) d'Aloda composee, Fr.; Zusarnmengesetztes
Alo�decoct, G.
Extract of Aloes, 10 grammes;.Myrrh, Potassium Carbonate, of each, 5
grammes; Extract of Liquorice, 40 grammes; Compound Tincture of Cardamoms,
300 millilitres; Distilled Water sufficient to produce 1000 millilitres.
Reduce the Extract of Aloes and the Myrrh to coarse powder, and boil them
and the Potassium Carbonate and the Extract of Liquorice with four hundred
millilitres of Distilled Water in a covered vessel for five minutes; cool;
add the Tincture of Cardamoms; set aside for two hours; strain through
flannel; pass sufficient Distilled Water through the strainer to produce the
required volume." Br. This is essentially
the former process of the British Colleges. The effect of the alkaline
carbonate is, by combining with the resin of the myrrh and the insoluble
portion of the aloes, to render them more soluble in water, while the
licorice assists in the suspension of the portion not actually dissolved.
The tincture of cardamom is useful not only by its cordial property, but
also by adding preservative qualities. This decoction is said not to filter
clear when first made, but, if kept for some time, to deposit insoluble
matter, and then to become bright and clear on filtering. (P. J., xiv, 491.)
J. F. Brown proposes to prepare a concentrated decoction which keeps for a
long time unchanged. (C. D., 1896, 425.)
Long boiling impairs the purgative property of aloes, and the same effect
is thought to be produced, to a certain extent, by the alkalies, which
certainly qualify its operation and render it less apt to irritate the
rectum. This decoction, therefore, is milder as a cathartic than aloes
itself; it is also more tonic and cordial, from the presence of the myrrh,
saffron, and cardamom, and derives antacid properties from the potassium
carbonate. It is given as a gentle cathartic, tonic, and emmenagogue, and is
especially useful in dyspepsia, habitual constipation, and atonic
amenorrhea. The decoction should not be combined in prescription with acids,
acidulous salts, or other bodies incompatible with the alkaline carbonate.
Dose, from
one-half to two fluidounces (15-60 ec.).
DECOCTUM HAEMATOXYLI. Br.
DECOCTION OF LOGWOOD
Tisane (Decocte) de Bois de Campeche, Fr.; Blauholz Abkochung, G.
Logwood, in chips, 50 grammes; Cinnamon Bark, bruised, 10 grammes;
Distilled Water, sufficient to produce 1000 millilitres. Boil the Logwood
with twelve hundred millilitres of Distilled Water in a suitable vessel for
ten minutes, adding the Cinnamon Bark towards the end of the time; strain;
if necessary pour sufficient Distilled Water over the contents of the
strainer to produce the required volume." Br. We
prefer the old U. S. formula, which ordered an ounce of the logwood to be
boiled with two pints down to a pint, and doubt whether the wood is
exhausted by a boiling of ten or fifteen minutes. The cinnamon of the Br.
formula is in general a very suitable addition, but there might be
circumstances under which it would be better omitted, and in this case, as
in others, any addition to the simple decoction might be left to the
judgment of the prescriber. This is an
excellent astringent in diarrheas of relaxation.
Dose, from
one-half to two flnidounces (15 - 60 cc.).
DECOCTUM ISPAGHULAE. Br.
DECOCTION OP ISPAQHULA
Ispaghula, bruised, 15 grammes; Distilled Water, sufficient to produce 1000
millilitres. Boil the Ispaghula with twelve hundred millilitres of Distilled
Water, in a suitable vessel, for ten minutes; strain; if necessary pour
sufficient Distilled Water over the contents of the strainer to produce the
required volume." Br. This decoction was
transferred from the British Addendum (1900) to the British Pharm. (1914).
It is used as a demulcent drink in India for diarrhea.
Dose, from
four fluidrachms to two fluid-ounces (15-60 cc.).
DECOCTUM SAPPAN. Br.
DECOCTION OF SAPPAN
Sappan, in chips, 50 grammes; Cinnamon Bark, bruised, 10 grammes; Distilled
Water, sufficient to produce 1000 millilitres. Boil the Sappan
with twelve hundred millilitres of Distilled Water, in a suitable vessel,
for ten minutes, adding the Cinnamon Bark towards the end of the time;
strain; if necessary pour sufficient Distilled Water over the contents of
the strainer to produce the required volume." Br. This
decoction was transferred from the British Addendum (1900) to the British
Pharm. (1914). It is used like logwood decoction in India as an astringent
in diarrhea.
Dose,
four fluidrachms to two fluidounces (15-60 cc.).
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