Important: Safety Warning
This page prescribes plants as medicine according to pre-modern medical theory. Several of the plants named are toxic, correct identification is difficult, and the doses given have no scientific basis. Do not ingest or apply any preparation described here.
In addition, this page presents medical treatment from an era before modern medicine. The remedies described are ineffective against the conditions named, and some of the ingredients or doses are harmful. Do not use them to treat any illness; consult a qualified medical professional.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
Home › Fluid Extracts › Fluid Extract of Yarrow
Fluid Extract of Yarrow
Take of yarrow (the recently dried herb) in coarse powder, 8 ounces; dilute alcohol (2 parts 95 per cent. alcohol and 1 part water), a sufficient quantity. Pour over the powdered herb 4 ounces of the diluted alcohol, and work through with the hands until thoroughly moistened; allow it to stand in a covered jar for 24 hours. Back closely in a funnel or other displacer and proceed to displace until 24 fluid ounces are obtained, which, if performed with proper care, will exhaust the herb, as tested, by tasting the droppings.
The resulting liquid should be exposed in a shallow dish (in summer to a draught of air under an open window, in winter on a shelf near the top of the room), and allowed to evaporate spontaneously until it measures 16 fluid ounces; 30 or 40 grains bicarbonate of potassa in powder may then be added, which retains the extractive in solution, and clears the liquid without interfering with its properties. The evaporation of this fluid extract may be continued. if desired, with a very gentle heat (in a water-bath) until reduced to the consistence of an ordinary extract. The result in either case, fluid or solid, possesses in a marked degree the sensible and other properties of the herb, each tea-spoonful representing 30 grains of the herb.