Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes

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HomeMedicated Syrups › Moore's Syrup of Tar

Moore's Syrup of Tar

Take of tar (strained), 1 ounce (troy) pulverized sugar (refined), 12 ounces; carbonate of magnesia, 3 ounces, rubbed to powder on a sieve; alcohol. 2 fluid ounces. Mix the alcohol with 6 fluid ounces of water, rub the tar in a inortar of sufficient capacity with 1 ounce of the sugar, and then with the carbonate of magnesia, gradually added, until the whole is reduced to a uniform, pulverulent mixture. To this gradually add, with constant trituration, which should be continued for 15 or 20 minutes, 4 fluid ounces of the mixture of alcohol and water; then strain with strong expression. Return the residue to the mortar, and again triturate, first with 1 ounce of the sugar and then with the remaining 4 fluid ounces of the mixture of alcohol and water, gradually added, as before; finally strain and strongly express, and then reduce the dregs by trituration to a smooth and uniform condition, and pack firmly in a glass funnel prepared for percolation, and adjusted to the neck of a graduated bottle containing the remainder of the sugar, and pour upon this the expressed liquid; and when it has all disappeared from the surface, continue the percolation with water until the whole measures 1 pint. Agitate occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved, and strain if necessary. Dose from a dessert to a table-spoonful. The strained tar, such as is usually sold in gallon cans, answers well for this purpose, but when it is not at hand the crude tar may be dissolved in a small quantity of ether, and strained, and the ether allowed to evaporate spontaneously.

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