Process for Preparing a Vegetable Salve or Ointment for Curative Purposes.
Year: 1899

page_text: of Application. 30th June, 1899-Accepted, 16th Sept., 1999
Date of Application. 30th June, 1899-Accepted, 16th Sept., 1999
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Process for Preparing a Vegetable Salve or Ointment for Curative
Purposes.
I, ARTHUR KRAUSE, of No. 4, Grüne Strasse, Dittau, in the Kingdom of
Saxony, and German Empire, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this
nvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
In the leaves of the birch (betula alba and betula odorata) there is, in addition
to the green colouring matter known as chlorophyll, also resin, essential oils
and tannin. St. John's wort (hypericum perforatum) contains besides hypericin,
Birch juice, birch resin and other prepara-
likewise essential oils and tannin.
St. John's wort, also, in
tions and also elixations obtained by boiling birch leaves in water have from
time immemorial been employed as curative agents.
the form of an oily extract was in common use medicinally in the 17th century,
principally as a balsam for wounds. It has however, since fallen into disuse.
So far as the present inventor is aware, a combination of the two substances
mentioned has not yet been employed, even in the form of a mere mixture or
emulsion. A simple mixture would not, moreover, on account of its small
percentage of effective ingredients, be of any great use, and for the purposes
which the inventor has in view unsuitable.
The present invention has for its object the production of a salve or ointment,
which by the use of an agent consisting of oil and yolk, contains the most
effective constituents of, both plants, highly concentrated and most intimately
mixed. This preparation has been tried by physicians and been found in actual
practice to be a good remedy in the case of burns, wounds, rough skin and the
like; it seems well suited to take the place of the older and more expensive
ointments. It may also be mixed with other oils or fatty matters for embalming
purposes.
The process of preparation is as follows:
Instead of an aqueous decoction of the birch leaves, whereby, on account of
the high temperature (over 100° C) the essential constituents for the most part
volatilize and the resinous constituents do not dissolve, the present inventor
He takes the still half-closed young leaves for
0 employs an alcoholic extract.
treatment with alcohol and after about a week expresses the latter, thus obtaining
a dark green, resinous extract possessing the aroma of birch. The alcoholic
extract, unlike the aqueous decoction, contains all the effective constituents of
the birch leaves and is suitable for combining with the extract of St. John's wort
35 to be described.
Like the decoction of birch leaves, an extract of St. John's wort obtained in
the old manner by means of oil alone is also unsatisfactory on account of the
The present inventor therefore employs
small absorptive power of the latter.
a mixture of yolk (that is, the natural oily secretion or greasy substance of
He digests the fresh St. John's wort, gathered when in blossom
40 wool) and oil.
and cut up, in such mixture at a temperature of at most 40 C., in a closed
cassel. frequently stirring, and after about three weeks expressing it.
The

page_text: result is an extract which when warm is dark red and fluid and when cold is
greenish brown and tends to thicken. On account of the great affinity of yolk
for aqueous fluids, the extract will have absorbed the whole of the juice of the
St. John's wort and with this also all effective constituents.
The two extracts which have been obtained by processes above described are
now united by being mixed in equal parts, and the alcohol driven off by means
of a water or steam-bath, either in a distilling apparatus or in an open boiler
whilst being constantly stirred.
In this manner a strong, brownish gray, aromatic salve is obtained, possessing
the properties mentioned in the preamble to this specification.
In spite of the improved character of the two extracts contained in it compared
to former preparations, a simple mixture would be unsuitable, on account of
its form, and percentage of alcohol, and by reason of the total amount of the
effective ingredients being 'too small. In the event of the two extracts being
used separately, apart from the percentage of alcohol in the one, the first applied
would render the application of, the second ineffective, since the evaporating
alcohol would leave on the skin a resinous coating preventing the penetration
of the oily extract of St. John's wort; or the oily product would close the pores
to the alcoholic one.
In the manner described, however, the components (for themselves wholly
insoluble in oil) of the birch leaves can be combined with those of the St. John's
wort so as to form a highly concentrated, oily preparation, suitable for use as a
salve or ointment.
To obtain the final preparation, it is necessary to proceed in the order stated.
If the alcohol were driven off from the birch leaf extract first, and then the
residue mixed with the oily St. John's wort extract, this residue would not be
dissolved, by the fatty mixture, but would remain suspended in the form of
lumps.
The above described process can be applied not only to birch leaves and St.
John's wort, but to all plants the effective ingredients of which may be dissolved
by alcohol or by yolk or oil.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
The process of preparing an ointment or salve containing a large proportion
of the effective constituents of plants soluble either in alcohol or in yolk or oil,
consisting in treating in alcohol the fresh plants the constituents of which are
soluble in alcohol; digesting with yolk and oil the plants the constituents of
which are soluble in yolk or oil, at a moderate temperature for some time;
mixing both preparations and finally driving off the alcohol from such mixture
all substantially as herein before set forth.
Dated this 23rd day of June 1899.
WALTER FOLKMAR,
Agent for Applicant.