STERILIZATION AND DISINFECTION IN THE PHARMACY. 197 



tration of medicamenta is very frequently necessary because administration 

 per mouth is impossible or undesirable. 



As a rule the pharmacist will purchase ampuls, ready for immediate use 

 by the physician, from some reliable wholesale manufacturing house. In 

 certain districts and under certain conditions this may not always be possible, 

 in which case the pharmacist must prepare the ampuls. The pharmacist 

 should be prepared to make all ampuls which may be desired by the physi- 

 cians in his community. The following suggestions can be carried out 

 readily: 



A. Glass Tubing. Ampuls can readily be made from ordinary alkali- 

 free glass tubing, selecting rods of a diameter to make ampuls of i c.c., 2 c.c., 

 5 c.c., and 10 c.c. capacity. This tubing can be secured from any chemical 

 or pharmaceutical supply house. Select rods which are quite free from 

 bubbles and of fairly uniform diameter and thickness. 



B. Breaking the Tubing into Suitable Lengths. Break the tubing in 

 lengths of from five to six inches, by filing a scratch with a small file and 

 breaking, with the hands protected by gloves to avoid injury by small bits 

 of glass. 



C. Sterilizing and Neutralizing the Glass Tubing. Place the lengths of 

 glass rods into water with 5 per cent, of soda and boil for thirty minutes. 

 Neutralize in 5 per cent, hydrochloric acid, rinse thoroughly and again 

 boil in distilled water. Let drain until dry. May be dried in hot-air ster- 

 ilizer at 140 C. 



D. Making the Half Ampul. Take one glass tube and heat the middle 

 part in a bunsen burner with rotation until red hot and soft, and pull apart 

 with a fairly quick strong pull. Break off the thin hairlike ends and hold 

 the tips in the flame to seal them securely. A smalt bead should form as 

 shown in Fig. 75, c, d, e, f. A little practice with a steady hand is neces- 

 sary to do this neatly. The half ampuls (one end open, the other sealed as 

 explained) are now laid aside in a sterile box or other container, until ready 

 to be filled. Or the two ends of the ampul can be reduced to a capillary 

 tube as follows. Heat the glass tubing in the blow-pipe flame, beginning 

 at one end, until soft and draw out a short distance with a firm pull. Heat 

 at a point about i to 3 inches from the narrowing portion of the glass tube 

 and repeat as before. Repeat this until there are a series of tubes of 

 normal diameter with capillary connections. Breaking these apart with 

 the aid of a file, gives empty ampuls open at the two capillary ends. 



E. Filling the Half Ampuls. This can be done by means of a burette, a 

 pipette or a medicine dropper. The burette has many advantages. Many 

 ampuls can be filled from one burette, the exact amounts can easily be 

 measured. The pipette is far less convenient than- the burette and is more 

 easily contaminated. A well graduated medicine dropper is very con- 



