The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook_ A Home Manual - James Green [162]
Guiding Rod. Some skill is necessary for decanting liquids without spillage from vessels of various shapes and when transferring liquids from a larger container into smaller dropper bottles. A guiding rod is most helpful in these processes, and it is good practice to develop the habit of using a guiding rod as illustrated. When dispensing liquid extracts into dropper bottles, use the bottle’s pipette (dropper) as the guiding rod.
DIGESTION
Digestion, from the Latin digerere, meaning to separate or dissolve, is simply another maceration process in which the menstruum is heated, with the heat increasing the solvent power of the menstruum. Digestion differs from infusion and decoction in that the period of soaking is considerably longer (1 to 10 days), and the temperature at which the menstruum is held is much lower, usually between 100° and 140° F. This process is not used very often for the preparation of herbal extracts. I use it predominantly for the preparation of oil infusions (see Chapter Seventeen), and basically this is the process employed when making herb teas by solar infusion (placing the fresh and/or dried herbs in a clear jar with a water menstruum and letting the mixture set in direct sunlight for a day). A lunar infusion (Witch’s elixir) is done in the same fashion, except that the subtle energy from the light of the moon is employed instead; a convivial chorus of cackles can expedite this process.
DISPENSATORY
The U.S. Dispensatory is primarily a commentary upon pharmacopoeias (U.S. as well as some foreign pharmacopoeias, particularly British), but it is broad enough in scope to include also every known medicinal or pharmaceutical article and its most important preparations. The dispensatory is the most comprehensive single work on medicines and their uses. In it you may find official, non-official, and common names of plants, descriptions, and botanical origins, and explanations of parts used. Notes on adulterants are included. It offers formulas for compounding preparations, and gives maximum and minimum doses. The actions of medicines (physiological, toxic, and medicinal) are fully but briefly discussed.
In reality, the dispensatory is an encyclopedia of drugs and their uses. It is not necessarily official, nor does it delineate the legal criterion used in this country. It includes a vast amount of material. Note that the information concerning the uses of botanicals is not written by herbalists and is often contrary to our experiences or what we might at times regard as standardized “b.s.”
DOSAGE
It is better to err on the side of insufficient dosage and trust to nature than to overdose. This avoids harming the client. Giving no medication at all is always better than medicating aimlessly. Many medicines positively influence conditions of imbalance when given in minute doses, even though no explanation for the action can be given. The fractional dose of Matricaria (German Chamomile) or of Pulsatilla often effects a positive control over nervous phenomena that cannot be duplicated by more powerful agents or doses (for example, two Chamomile flowers in a cup of hot tea or 1 drop of Chamomile tincture in an ounce of water). Try it.
As a general rule, large and robust persons require fuller doses than small and frail individuals and the elderly require smaller doses than other adults. In general, beginning at age 65, dosage of most systemic remedies should run a gradually descending scale, while it may be necessary to increase that of eliminants such as gentle laxatives and diuretics. The weight of an individual also has to be taken into account. When giving medicine to children, certain rules must be followed. No absolutes can be determined in administering medicines to children, but one or the other of the following rules is often