This section is from the book "The London Dispensatory", by Anthony Todd Thomson. Also available from Amazon: PDR: Physicians Desk Reference.
"Take of chamomile flowers, dried, one ounce; carraway seeds, bruised, half an ounce; water, five pounds. Boil for a quarter of an hour, and strain."
Decoctum Chamaemeli Compositum, Dub. Compound Decoction of Chamomile.
"Take of chamomile flowers, dried, half an ounce; fennel-seeds, two drachms; water, a pint. Boil a little, and strain."
These decoctions contain in solution bitter extractive, but, owing to the boiling, only a small portion of essential oil. Were their mode of preparation a matter of any consequence, we would recommend the aromatic seeds not to be added till towards the conclusion of the boiling: but for the purposes of fomentation and glyster, for which they are intended, as much benefit is probably derived from the warm water, as the principles it holds in solution.
 
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