THE NEW YORK JOURNAL OF PHARMACY 



the ointments prepared by melting has 

 entirely disappeared and in the oint- 

 ments made by simple mixing of fats 

 with flowers of sulphur or precipitated 

 sulphur when complete saturation has 

 taken place. 



As to the nature of the liquid phase 

 considering the physical properties of 

 the fat, lanolin, etc., it cannot be re- 

 garded as a true liquid solution nor as 

 a solid solution, hoAvever, it comes 

 nearer to being the latter than the 

 former. Only in a vaseline ointment 

 we can speak of a liquid solution, since 

 it consists of a mixture of hydrocar- 

 bons, some of which are solid and 

 others liquid at ordinary room temper- 

 ature. 



Different authors have previously 

 spoken of a partial solubility of sul- 

 phur in ointments, since they consid- 

 ered its solubility in many organic 

 liquids and especially in liquid fats. 

 This was, however, only a supposition, 

 since a direct and certain proof could 

 not be brought by chemical methods 

 Gnly, and since it has only now been 

 brought indirectly by the study of the 

 transformation of the physical state of 

 sulphur in ointrhents prepared by 

 melting. 



The proof of a liquid phase in the 

 sulphur ointment is of great interest 

 for pharmacology. 



If the sulphur were present in the 

 ointments only in the solid state, it 

 could, in spite of finest subdivision, 

 exert no therapeutic effect upon the 

 tissues. A very thin layer of fat would 

 be sufficient to keep the sulphur away 

 from the tissues and the intimate con- 

 tact, which is absolutely necessary for 

 a chemical reaction between sulphur 

 and tissue, could not take place. Since 



the presence of dissolved sulphur has 

 now been proven, it can readily be 

 understood how that absolutely neces- 

 sary contact can take place, which 

 makes chemical reaction possible and 

 guarantees the pharmacological activi- 

 ties dependent upon them. 



It must also be stated that on ac- 

 count of the slight solubility of sulphur 

 in fats the pharmacological action is 

 very slight and might even be entirely 

 disregarded. However, because of the 

 state of equilibrium mentioned above, 

 while it gradually passes from the 

 liquid state into the tissues and is there 

 combined, new quantities of sulpnur 

 change from the disperse or solid 

 phase into the liquid one. In this man- 

 ner large quantities of sulphur, al- 

 though but slightly soluble in fats, 

 can get into the tissues. The absorp- 

 tion of sulphur by the tissues would 

 take place acording to the following 

 scheme : 



Disperse 

 or Solid Phase 



Liquid Phase 



Chemically combined 

 sulfur 



y in the ointment 



I 

 J 



in the tissue 



We have mentioned before that in 

 the ointments prepared by melting the 

 tension of the almost colloidal globules 

 towards solution is very large as com- 

 pared with those made with flowers or 

 precipitated sulphur. Consequently, 

 the change into the liquid phase and 

 the subsequent absorption into the tis- 

 sues will be more rapid and the phar- 

 macological activity will be more in- 

 tense in the ointments prepared by 

 melting. 



