EMPYEMA* : Take of: Juniper berries, well bruised, one pound, Caraway seeds, Sweet Fennel seeds, each bruised, one ounce and a half, Diluted alcohol, nine pounds, Water, sufficient to prevent empyreuma**. Macerate two days, and draw off nine pounds by distillation. It is unnecessary to make particular observations on each of these simple spirits, as their virtues are the same with those of the substances from which they are extracted, united to the stimulus of the alcohol.
American New Dispensatory, 1813
*pus in the pleural or lung cavity
**the peculiar odor of the products of organic substances in closed vessels. The addition of water also helps extract water-soluble constituents.
